Harry and the Heart of Magic
by Squirrel of Shadow
Summary: Harry was born with a natural understanding of magic, and this has broken many of the chains intended to weaken him back at Privet Drive. Instead of growing up abused, he's grown up with different Dursleys, and is more aware of what lays ahead of him. Manipulative!Dumbledore!Bashing, Grey!Smart!Powerful!Harry, Weasley!Draco!Snape!Bashing, Self-Challenge Fic.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I am merely playing with other people's creations, I don't own the game/book/anime/TV-show I am borrowing from, nor am I making any money with this. I am writing for fun and practice, as fan-fiction to be shared with others if I feel like it.

**Chapter 1: Meet the Dursleys**

Harry Potter yawned loudly as he pulled himself up from his bed, feeling the comfortable mattress beneath him oh so inviting but he knew he had to get up already. Heading over to the door, he stepped out to the hallway and listened for a moment. From the noise in the kitchen his aunt was preparing breakfast, and a look outside from the hallway window showed the car was gone. His uncle must have gone to work already. The snoring from his cousin's room was nothing new, Harry had always been the first one up from the boys, otherwise he didn't get any warm water in his morning shower.

Washing up and returning to his room to change, the young lad pulled on the new jeans, frowning to himself slightly as he slipped his fingers between their edge and his sides, sighing. "No way, I have to start exercising more or eating less." They were new, and yet they felt a little tight. Not too much, they'd still work out fine, but he had thought they'd be just right and a few days later they felt a little tight. Either they had shrunk in the first wash, or he really had eaten a bit too much earlier.

Shaking his head and heading downstairs while tugging his grey t-shirt on, Harry made his way to the kitchen noticing Aunt Petunia was almost ready. With a smile on his lips he moved to get a few plates out of the cabinet, setting them down at the dining table before moving to help his aunt. "Morning aunt Petunia." He said while setting the butter and bread onto the table on a small tray.

"Morning Harry, Vernon had to leave early for a meeting so just set the table up for three." Nodding his head in reply, Harry set things down, hearing the toilet flushing upstairs. Dudley must have finally woken up to the scent of the food. His room _was _above the kitchen, and both his room's window and the kitchen window were usually open.

"Would you get the mail when you're done?" She asked him in a calm fashion but Harry knew it was an order. She was busy, and he didn't mind, but he had tried to be cheeky about things now and then and learned his aunt didn't really like that. Not wanting to start the day off on a bad foot he nod and headed to the front door, soon returning with the letters and setting them down quickly looking through what they were.

"Bills, bills, magazines for you and uncle Vernon, Dudley's comics, and a letter to me?" Harry sounded a little confused, looking over the old parchment. He had a distinct feeling about it, the same he had felt about a few things in the house in the previous years. Not a good one, a nasty, unpleasant one. He raised a brow, and he felt the nasty feeling in the letter shatter and fade away. It was almost instinctive on his part.

"Morning Harry, hey, Pierce said he found a pond with a lot of frogs in it nearby, do you want to come along and try and catch some?" Dudley grinned slightly while taking a seat nearby, already having thoughts about the frog-races Pierce Polkins and the rest of his friends had been thinking about before. Harry merely shook his head slightly at this and sighed. "Sorry, I got a few library books I have to return today unless I want to get another late notice and I really don't like paying the fines."

Shrugging his shoulders slightly Dudley then attacked the sausage bowl and lifted the largest one on his own plate before starting to help himself on the rest of the food. It was only the raised brow from Aunt Petunia that made him stop from taking any more than he should, Dudley was a bit greedy at times after all but Petunia had promised to help him lose some weight and Dudley would go along with it, though sometimes reluctantly.

"So what's in that letter of yours Harry?" Petunia asked a bit thoughtfully as she eyed the old-styled parchment of it, seeming to have tensed up a little bit. Harry had noticed but given what she had told him before he couldn't blame her. Especially as her hunch was spot on.

"Acceptance letter to Hogwarts. They are just telling me they are awaiting my owl." He frowned slightly and shook his head. Ever since his aunt Petunia had told him about his mother Harry had devoured all the books she had left behind at the Dursleys. They might not have liked magic and the strangeness, but Harry had made sure to not use it at their home, or at least not in front of them. It had taken some effort but they had finally accepted it as just another part of him.

It certainly did not hurt that Harry helped out with a fair share of the chores, and Petunia's garden was almost _magical_ and a source of many neighbor's envy. It didn't hurt that Harry was polite and well-mannered, making the neighbors praise the Dursleys for their child-raising skills. It didn't hurt that Harry was quite clever and able to help out with all kinds of little mechanical problems, both at home and at the neighborhood. The Dursleys had received a fair share of praise as had little Harry.

Vernon had originally been more reluctant to let him use any magic, but came around when Harry helped out with setting impressive displays together for the meetings, and the guests he brought home always seemed enchanted with the evening. He had been making progress in his career and Harry had even found a few tea-mixtures for him that helped settle his stomach down when the stress was otherwise acting on him and making him irritable. In the end, Vernon had to admit the boy was too useful and downright polite to be mad at for little things like the misfortune of his legacy.

Dudley had not formed much of an opinion of Harry in the early years and though the two fought sometimes, they'd become more or less friendly with each others though Dudley abhorred the idea of how much reading Harry did on his spare time. Of course, since Harry was always ready to play some games with Dudley he didn't mind too much, and the fact Harry was more than happy to help him out with pushing his grades too had won him over. Dudley had started off as a poor student, but he was reaching the high-average by now. He would never be a great student, but with Harry's help he didn't do poorly.

Still, through all of that a decade had passed since Harry arrived on their doorstep and they had come to expect a letter would arrive for him one day. Now that it had, things were likely to change. Dudley was going to start attending another school soon, and would have to do well on his own. Without Harry there the garden wouldn't be quite as pristine as it was when he was around, and little things would get worn down without Harry's eagerness to try and see if he could fix and maintain things. Still, most of all it would mean that Harry would be away learning more about magic.

Reading through the list quietly, Harry shook his head annoyed at some of the choices on the booklist. His mother's old books had come in handy, including the _Introduction to Potions_ which was notably absent on the booklist. He knew that book was essential to know how different ingredients would interact and what the different phases were there for. Why certain potions had to be stirred one way and then the other way so and so many times, why certain ingredients should never be added to a hot liquid while some were more potent if the potion was nearly boiling when they were added in.

"I really think I should go to Durmstrang or Beauxbatons instead, but I suppose I don't have much of a choice right now." He looked up at his aunt who was eating quietly though casting a look his way now and then. "Would it be possible to get a ride to that... Leaky Cauldron later today, to get my school supplies?"

She nodded her head slightly as she set her knife and fork down, humming. "I'll ask Vernon when he gets home, if he isn't willing to drive you I should be able to." Her frown reminded him just how much she despised driving around in the city. She was fine driving in the rural area but she abhorred the rude drivers that a person could run into in a city. Harry didn't argue, he just nod his head in agreement.

With a brief thought he focused on the wards covering the house and most of the neighborhood by now, and quietly accessed them to tweak them a little. Once he would leave the house, the Wards would begin to decay slowly over time, but they would be able to hold a year or two even without him in the house by the sheer amount of magic he had pushed into them.

Assuming control of the wards had been as easy as breathing to him. His natural connection to magic had found them when he was but a little child, and sensing something foul and bad about them, shattered a few parts entirely before securing the others under his control so that nobody else could try and wrestle that control away from him. If he was the one feeding the wards, only he should direct them. That had also shattered several bindings within himself, and given him the worst headache he had endured in his whole life.

Thinking back, he remembered visiting a hospital for that, as the scar on his forehead had erupted with black ooze and entered a few wounds on his hand when he grasped his aching head. His screaming had apparently made the Dursleys think he was possessed for a moment, but thankfully it had quieted down. He had been treated for a blood poisoning, a little white lie having been spun up that he had hurt his hand on a rusty tool while gardening. The scar had since then faded to nothing but a thin white line.

Under those wards and with a family he was able to rely on he had been studying magic from his mother's old books, but also learning about the wizarding world from Lily's old journals. The revelations they brought with them were hardly pleasant ones. He had stayed away from most of the wizarding world when Aunt Petunia had showed him the letter he had been left with, after having quickly eradicated the nasty feelings he got from just touching the letter. Thankfully his mere presence seemed to have nullified the impact of the letter, he had a feeling whatever it had been on that letter would have made his life a whole lot worse.

"Well, I'm going to head out and return the books to the library in the meanwhile, see you later Duds." Harry smiled and got up after finishing his meal and his letter, heading back to his bedroom. Gathering a few library books into his backpack, he was back out in a short while and getting on top of his bike riding fast towards the local library. He had a fair share of Lily in him, including a rather insatiable thirst for knowledge, and since nobody tried to suppress that he had taken up trying to learn all he could.

With a wave he greeted the librarian and began to set down the books he had loaned out earlier. He knew he would have to leave Surrey relatively soon and decided against borrowing any new books despite a few interesting items on his list having arrived. The thoughts of being ten months late on returning the books had him shiver at the fee that would build into. He did stay back at the library for a while to read up on a few things, but returned home well before Vernon would be around again.

Taking a look around on his return, he headed out to the garden to do some work there, getting to work watering the flower beds and uprooting any weeds, as well as trimming the grass. He could hear a few neighbors pass by and look after him but say nothing. He was mostly just keeping himself busy for a while, and little bit of hard labor never hurt anyone who wanted to lose a couple of pounds. He would fit comfortably in these new jeans, damn it.

Finally, his uncle was back and by the sound of his humming, he had closed a very profitable deal. Normally Harry would have been happy for his uncle, but today that was rather unfortunate. Having a happy Vernon was a good thing, but when Vernon was this happy it meant he'd get frisky and if his aunt and uncle retreated to their bedroom it would be a while before Harry would get to visit the Leaky Cauldron.

He wasn't going to go interrupt however, just hope that they wouldn't take all day with things if they did decide to have fun. His thoughts were interrupted by Vernon opening the kitchen back door, calling him over. Hurrying there, Harry looked at Vernon's thoughtful expression a bit warily.

"Harry, your aunt and I would like to celebrate a rather good deal I made and we'll probably be busy for a while. She's written down the address and some directions here, and I have some pounds for you to cover the travel and such. You should have some of _that _kind of money in the bank in that place. Can you go by yourself or do you want to wait?"

Taking a bus was not too appealing prospect, but it would be better than a long wait, so Harry nod his head slightly and smiled. "I'll take the bus, have fun you two." He accepted the paper with the destination and the money, making his way to the local bus-stop. Even if he felt fairly lucky and his family went along with most of his wishes, they still had their own preferences and in this case it would have been rude of him to expect too much.

The bus trip took him a bit of time, and changing busses had him feeling a bit nervous, but eventually he was at the right stop and began walking to the right direction. He idly thought about the small scar on his forehead, but brushed his slightly messy hair down to cover it partially before moving ahead again, finally stopping in front of an old, dingy little bar of some sort. Stepping in a bit warily, he looked about and figured he was in the right place.

An old man had a teacup before him a finger moving in the air above the spoon that kept swirling the contents. At another, a fat, balding man was reading a newspaper with moving pictures in the front page. At one of the tables a pair of women were playing cards but the cards occasionally snapped and disappeared, a few of them even exploding in their hands with a brief snap.

Making his way to the bartender and smiling, Harry raised his voice slightly to be heard by the man but hopefully none of the others. "Good day sir, would you open me a way into the alley? I should do my shopping and I don't got my wand yet." This earned a confused look from the man, seeing a first-year student show up without their parents along at all was odd, but he shrugged it away casually.

"Sure kid, I-" He paused, looking at Harry's face as a realization seemed to strike him, but before he could speak it out loud he saw Harry's eyes widen too and a finger lift to his lips. The bartender nodded slightly and gestured him along at the back door, leading the two into the alleyway.

"Bless my Heart if it isn't Harry Potter. Welcome back, Mr. Potter, we've raised plenty of toasts to you for getting rid of you-know-who back then." He smiled cheerfully and Harry shook the man's hand warmly. He wasn't too awkward about this but he didn't want the whole room charging in on him, and felt relieved the man had realized that too.

Tapping his wand on the stones, the man let the young lad head on over to the alley, waving after him and then heading back into his bar a grin on his face. As Harry viewed the surroundings he felt a bit awed for a moment, but having read about it in his mother's journal had given him some idea of what to expect. Seeing was believing however, and Harry had to admit his mother had been right. The first time seeing it was an experience he would remember a long time.

Smiling as he made his way hurriedly down the alley, he made his way to the goblin bank walking in and finding a place in a line to a teller. It wasn't that long, as most of the people just got a pouch of galleons or sickles and headed out afterwards, but a few people asked to be taken to their vaults and got directed to follow another goblin to the depths. After a short while, Harry found himself before the teller who nod his head slightly in greeting, a gesture Harry answered with a nod of his own.

"Good day sir, I was hoping to take my inheritance test today and see about what my parents left me." He spoke politely, but lifted his hair slightly to show the faint line of his scar, earning a raised brow from the goblin who nodded to him. "Certainly, young man. Glibrock and Burnstone are in charge of the testing, I'll show you the way." He set down a sign reading 'next teller' and got up from his seat to show Harry the way.

Given that there were three other tellers present and the bank wasn't that busy at that hour, Harry didn't pay it too much attention but more than a few people were surprised and watched him and the goblin. Most of the tellers would call a younger goblin to show the clients the way, not get up and show the way themselves.

Oblivious to this little bit of news, Harry followed the goblin man along to an office where a pair of goblins were checking through rolls of parchment, both of them appearing quite busy. As Harry and the teller stepped in however their gazes rose and they looked between the boy and the teller curiously, before the goblin that had lead Harry there smirked and spoke up. "Mr. Potter has come to take his inheritance test."

The younger of the two goblins hurriedly moved back to retrieve a particular sort of parchment from the shelf, with old runes drawn all along its sides, as well as a small knife to go along with it. "Please cut a little hole into your left index fingers and squeeze out a few drops of blood onto this parchment young man." The goblin spoke seriously but all three of them were looking at him curiously.

Harry watched the goblins curiously but followed their instruction, stabbing a small hole into his fingertip and then letting a few drops of blood drip onto the parchment. After the blood began to sink into the parchment he drew his hand back, only to receive a small bit of cloth from the goblin that he used to wipe the spot clean, finding the finger a little numb for a second before seeing the small wound was gone. He handed the cloth back, and the goblin cleaned the knife on it, the cloth seeming to be spotless afterwards still.

"Enchanted so it helps a client heal and destroys the blood it comes in touch with so it cannot be used against the client." The goblin explained to him noticing the boy's curious expression, taking delight in seeing someone without any scorn or pompous behavior in them among the goblins. True, several muggle-born did the same but many of them were scared, and this boy wasn't that either. He was just curious.

The writing began to appear, and a few curse words were quickly whispered as the goblins read through what had appeared, the teller who had lead him there hurrying out while the other two looked at each others and presented the document to him to look through, muttering to each other in their own tongue.

Taking the parchment, Harry Potter started reading it curiously, wondering what had got such a reaction out of them.

_Harry James Potter, Heir of House Potter, Age 10, nearly 11 (First-Year 1991)_

_Son of James Potter and Lily Potter nee Evans._

_Magical Guardian: Sirius Black (Godfather), Imprisoned (Still Eligible)_

_Proxy: Albus Dumbledore (Self-Proclaimed, Restricted)_

_Last of his Line, to be Emancipated after completing his Owl-levels or turning 16 at latest. _

_Assumes Head of House status after acquiring his Newt-levels or turning 18._

_Right to name his own Proxy at age 11_

_Possessions:_

_-Potter Family Vault (Relics, Tomes, Portraits) (Restricted until age 15)_

_-Potter Finance Vault (Deeds to owned Properties, investment contracts) (Sealed until age 21)_

_-Potter Main Vault (15,256,105 Galleons, 626,521 Sickles, 125,521 Sickles) (Restricted till Age 15)_

_-Potter Trust Vault (5,000 galleons, limited to 1,500 galleon withdrawal/year) (Annual deposit of 500 g)_

_Properties:_

_-Potter Manor, Britain (under war-wards, sealed)_

_-House in Godric's Hollow, Britain (destroyed, landmark status, tax-free property)_

_-Potter Chateau, France (under war-wards, unplotable)_

_Note: _

_Repeated attempts of illegal access to Potter vaults recorded by Proxy, _

_Proxy holding illegal possession of Potter vault keys._

_Contracts:_

_-One (1) marriage contract for Ginevra Molly Weasley (invalid, illegal, placed by Albus Dumbledore)_

This was certainly a nasty bit of news, no wonder the goblins were looking more than a little angry. The fact his family had millions of galleons had him feeling a little faint, but the fact that his self-proclaimed proxy had apparently tried to set him up with a marriage contract and access the vaults containing his inheritance had him feeling a measure of dread about the coming school years.

As he was still thinking things through a group of goblins entered the room, some of them armed with halberds and carrying metal breastplates that made them look tough and dangerous. Harry felt a bit of worry cross through his mind, but seeing the goblin who seemed to command respect from all the others with his mere presence hold out a hand towards Harry and the parchment the young man hurriedly handed it over.

Reading the parchment through, the goblin man grit his teeth together, and Harry could tell they looked pretty sharp. The goblin man was a bit older than some of the others, but definitely not elderly. He had strong arms in the sleeveless shirt he wore, but the black cloth held a number of small insignias to it. He wore a few simple but powerful seeming rings on his hands, and the insignias made Harry think they held power too. This was a powerful goblin, both physically and in terms of possessions, Harry had a feeling the goblin man could have taken down the armed guards himself without breaking a sweat or taking up a weapon.

"Mr. Potter, I am Director Ragnok, and I am the chief of the British Gringotts clan. I assure you that you are not in any trouble, but the last parts of this document raise some concerns for us. Sirius Black has been imprisoned for several years, and Albus Dumbledore was an important part of making sure of that."

There was a serious expression on Harry's face as he nodded, considering the news he was receiving. The more he heard about the magical world the less he liked it, but leaving Britain would mean starting up a huge mess that would probably work against him. That did not mean he had to go along unprepared though, especially with the concerns that had been raised with this latest piece of information.

"Thank you, Director Ragnok. If I may ask, could you explain to me the difference between Restricted and Sealed in this list though?" He wasn't sure if it was a bit rude of him to ask but the thought about the family portraits had him silently hoping his parents had made ones, and if they had they would likely be in that restricted family vault then.

"Restricted means that you are not allowed to remove anything from the vault yourself, but you have access to it. Your Hogwarts tuition would be paid from your Main Vault for instance, as would any of the payments and taxes your family properties might require, but you could not use the funds from it to cover say a shopping trip for books, potion ingredients, or other such purchases. Those would have to come out of your trust-vault. You would be able to visit the family vault and see about any tomes or portraits there, but you would not be allowed to remove them from the vault."

Explaining this the goblin man had a rather calm tone to his voice, though a few people had looked at him a bit worried when Harry spoke up to ask him that question all of a sudden. Still, the Director did not seem to think it beneath himself to answer the young man, indulging his curiosity. Seeing the smile on his face seemed to amuse the goblin a bit as well.

"Could I see if my parents made portraits before their passing?" He inquired a bit hopefully, and after receiving a confirming nod he bowed his head respectfully, earning a chuckle from Ragnok. The goblin chief was pleased, the Potter boy had as good manners as his mother had, and he appeared to not get held down by fear such as armed goblin guards being around or asking a rather mundane question from a goblin chief who's time was money.

"Certainly, Mr. Potter. I will let you get right to it and retrieve some gold from your trust vault as well while you are at it, but I would like to ask if you would want to change Proxies when you soon turn eleven years old? If you wish, you can write down such an order on parchment to wait for the day so you do not need to appear here again at a later time if you would rather have the business taken care of here and now. I cannot imagine that Albus Dumbledore has acted in your best interest after what this parchment has revealed."

Harry considered it a moment. Applying for another proxy was a bit risky, he didn't know anyone he could trust that well just yet, but there was a point to the remark he couldn't leave it in Dumbledore's hands. The man might have tried to marry him off as a proxy, who knows what else the man might still try if Harry did not take action. Considering things a moment he looked at Ragnok seriously.

"Would you be willing to name a good goblin to take over as my proxy until such a time that I am eligible to take care of those matters by myself?"

You could have heard a pin drop in that room after he voiced his question, before a moment later the goblin man barked a laughter and shook his head amusedly. Positively delightful! The boy would have a goblin stand in as his proxy, that would certainly send a message to the wizarding world, that the boy would choose a goblin over Albus Dumbledore would drag the old wizard's reputation to mud.

"It would upset a lot of purebloods but I believe I could name someone into the position if you so chose. If you would write such a note and sign it with a blood quill, it would be irrefutable." He smiled in a calm fashion, and Harry nodded his head while a younger goblin clerk rushed off to retrieve the document necessary. Ragnok had a feeling that the wizarding world would be in for some nasty surprises and long-due changes soon if the Potter heir would keep up this kind of behavior.

"All things considered, are you still going to attend Hogwarts however? We can hold the tuition payment for a while if you wish to apply to other schools abroad." He asked this seriously but left the choice in Harry's hands, and was not disappointed to see the boy shake his head. "Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer."

Ragnok grinned even wider, he was really taking a shine on this boy. Someone who understood those truths even without goblin blood in them at such a young age was going to be an interesting person to know. Not only that, but Ragnok could feel the amount of power flowing through the boy while standing this close, and the way he had eyed Ragnok's runic vest the boy seemed to have divined some of his protections from them.

He might not be wearing a heavy armor but he was a chief through the grace of being the most cunning, powerful person in the clan, a strong but dumb chief didn't live long, nor did a weak though intelligent one. Champions and advisors were better position for those, and Ragnok had worked hard to fulfill the requirements to ascend to his position. He had a similar feel about this boy, he'd work hard to assume his own rightful place too, given the chance.

**End Chapter**

A/N: Another bit of brain storming came together as a strange little challenge for myself originally. I thought it worth a thought and wrote down a little bit for it, and ended up coming up with this.

If Dumbledore is the Manipulator of Destiny, then Harry is the Master Controller of Magic. More specifically, he twists wards, he can tweak spells, he can flat out ignore some and turn others back around. He was born under a prophecy and Dumbledore's efforts to manipulate his destiny have pushed his powers to grow stronger yet, breaking free.

His scar is no longer a horcrux, and the Potter vaults are his, and things are going to be interesting in the coming years. This Harry will be learned, clever, and willing to use sneaky tactics when necessary. He will also act in a way a warrior has to at times, that is, without mercy. He is unlikely to take prisoners when fighting death-eaters, and he will be fighting, not dueling but fighting.

This is Harry the Inglorious Bastard when he needs to be.

If someone else happened to want to use the weird bit of idea of mine for their own attempt, I could try and outline the self-challenge into another chapter's end as an Author's Note, but I doubt its unique, and it is likely to be too over-powered for a true serious tale in some cases, but it seems curious enough it might be worth the effort.

But on that note, this is one of those ideas that may get built up over time or stay as a one-shot for a bit. I'll mark this story -completed- when posting this, but switch it over to 'on-going' if I start writing the second chapter and so on so forth.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I am merely playing with other people's creations, I don't own the game/book/anime/TV-show I am borrowing from, nor am I making any money with this. I am writing for fun and practice, as fan-fiction to be shared with others if I feel like it.

**Chapter 2: Mandatory Shopping**

Director Ragnok and his personal guard had been surprised when a near-panicked goblin teller alerted him about a high-value client having been tested and that there had been some inconsistencies. Hurrying over to the inheritance office in a quick fashion, he had asked questions along the way and his mood had darkened with every new bit of information.

Thankfully Mr. Potter seemed to be rather calm about the revelations and though his expression hinted at some serious thoughts were going on in his mind, he steeled his face rather quickly keeping his thoughts to himself as he addressed Ragnok with a question.

At that point, the Director had to admit he was curious about the lad himself, and not just his business in the bank. The more he listened, the more amused he was getting. The boy had promise, and when it came down to it and the boy was asked about setting a new proxy even Ragnok hadn't seen that one coming.

Even if the children raised among the non-magical usually had less prejudice against the goblins a fair share of them feared the goblins because of the folk-stories left from past ages. Goblins were warriors and part of those stories were justified, but usually the winners, or survivors wrote the history as they saw fit. The young man was not treating them with either scorn or fear however, reminding the director of the mundane-born Lily Evans who had been the boy's mother.

While the director did not bother to learn much about the wizard families, he knew enough to pay attention to the more interesting families and Lily Evans would have found herself employed with a high salary if the wizard James Potter had not pursued her before the Gringotts could approach her with a job offer that would have placed her outside of Britain and out of the danger of the approaching war.

As the boy left to visit his vaults, Ragnok in turn sent the clerks to take care of the business that this client had brought in. There would be a bit of work to do in order to unseal the Potter Will officially and have it read out loud at Wizengamot. It would force a trial for Sirius Black when the fact he was a god-father with an oath that prevented hi m from harming Harry would be disclosed. It would also cast some serious doubt on Albus Dumbledore.

Replacing that old wizard would be a delight, he might preach about peace and second chances but the old man seemed more keen to maintain a status quo than bring forth any meaningful changes for the better, and only put in a token resistance against things that made life even more difficult for non-human non-purebloods. Part of the time Director Ragnok was rather certain Albus Dumbledore actually pushed some of those ideas forth with his own personal circle of friends behind them, and his advice whispered to the right ears.

Few knew just how much influence the old man controlled directly and indirectly, and his tendency to 'lose' on several issues certainly made him seem weaker than he truly was, politically, but few paid attention to the fact that Albus Dumbledore seemed to only 'lose' on matters that didn't concern him too much, or which he had pushed for in the shadows himself.

Losing the Potter proxy would be a blow to his credibility, and losing the assumed guardianship would probably lead to a fight that would show just how much power the old man could gather. Trying to stop Sirius Black's trial might be difficult even for him however, with the evidence about to be laid down, but it might be wise to take some precautions that the Head of House of the Black family would not perish before he had a chance to stand trial for something that he should have been given a trial for at most a week after his capture, not nearly a decade later.

Appointing a goblin would be pushing things a little too far for the Wizengamot most likely, but that didn't stop the Gringotts from appointing one of their more talented human employees in the position in proxy to Gringotts to whom Mr. Potter had given the task for now. Making it clear that the employee would only hold onto that position as long as Gringotts and Mr. Potter approved of his actions should help keep them in line, and should be enough to quell the worst of arguments from the pureblood faction, especially when they reasoned it took some power out of Dumbledore's grasp.

Meanwhile, Harry Potter was wiping his eyes sadly and shaking his head staring at the portraits of his parents and feeling his heart clenching in his chest. His parents portraits had never been activated after their deaths, and though he called out to them it would take a year for them to be awoken from their still status. If Dumbledore or Sirius had brought him here as a child, they would have been able to see him grow and visit here now and then, but now it would mean another year of waiting for them to be awake and able to talk to him. That was a year he might not have, he thought to himself sadly.

He had requested, and already received new keys for his vaults, leaving the other keys than his trust vault key into the care of Gringotts with the clear request that only he could retrieve them, and only when present with his own trust vault key and willing to confirm his identity with a new blood test. He wasn't going to take chances with that. He had also requested a light-weight bag to which store the galleons he had retrieve from his trust vault, taking up a total of 200 galleons to do his shopping with, and exchanging additional 50 galleons for pounds to have some money in the mundane world as well.

His payment for Hogwarts 1st year was authorized from his main vault, as was the light-weight bag at least this time around, though the latter had been on Director Ragnok's approval. With those galleons in his pocket he set out to complete his shopping trip, though not before he had been given the heir Potter ring to wear and instructions on where to visit along the alley.

It didn't take him long to follow the list, stepping away from Diagon Alley to the Alchemic Alley, and to reach the first shop on his list. _Quality Wands _was a wand-crafter's workshop, and unlike the Diagon Alley wand-maker who created wands in bulk and tried to find the best match to each client, the Quality Wands was known to craft wands specifically for the wizard or witch in question.

"Hello?" Harry asked on stepping in and having heard the bell ring, seeing a moment later a tall, dark-skinned woman step out from behind a bead-string curtain with a smile on her lips, and her robes following a rather curvy form. While Harry was a little young to pay that too much notice, he did see she was a woman that could probably turn more than a few heads.

"Welcome, young man, to my store. Come on up, you are here for your first wand are you?" Her smile was a warm and relaxed one, and Harry nodded his head while moving closer. She snapped her fingers after directing Harry to stand on a slightly elevated platform, and at the finger snap a set of measuring tapes began to fly in the air around his both arms, and she lifted a monocle over her left eye seeming to be looking at him curiously.

"Would you kindly tell me which is your dominant arm? Do you write with your right arm or your left, or are you just as good with both?" She smiled in a relaxed fashion, hearing Harry's answer of being right handed and asking a few other things that Harry provided replies for. Nodding her head approvingly, she soon guided him to the back where he was faced with a selection of different ingredients, and asked to run his hand over each type of wood and type of core. Watching him with that monocle on her eye the whole time, she made a couple of notes and smiled in a pleased manner.

Harry could tell which materials responded to him best, and he saw her making notes on the same ones even though his expression didn't change. She probably saw with her monocle the same which he felt just by running his hand over the ingredients, the ones that pulled upon his magic and reached out with their own the furthest, almost making connection if not for the bit of glass between them preventing a direct connection from being made yet.

Given the nature of some of those cores it was a wise precaution, few people should be risked too close to basilisk fang with a hint of venom left within them after all, and some of the other materials were just as dangerous if handled without care. Cockatrices' skin might not petrify on touch but it would be irritant to handle and if ingested by the foolhardy they would be shopping for a coffin soon after.

"Alright, I can see you get a good reaction from several ingredients, and a decent one on many others. These are your three best ones however. On the woods, you have a good connection on most of them but these two were undoubtedly the best. That leaves me with a few question."

Looking at Harry seriously, the woman gestured at the two kinds of wood he had run his fingers over, speaking seriously as she watched him. "This pale bit of wood would make a strong wand for charms work and especially good for healing magic and protection. The darker, reddish tinted wood in turn is ideal for transfiguration and battle magic. I can combine them both with a bit of magic and synthesis, but such a wand would be costly, and take some practice to _tame it_." She watched Harry, who nod his head in understanding then smiling.

"Please combine the woods for me, I would like the challenge and I believe wand with all those qualities would be worth the initial trouble." She smiled and nodded her head to him. Most wizards would prefer their first wand to be simply good at something, and only consider stronger alternatives when they reached an older age and their original wand was starting to prove a little too weak to channel all of their power efficiently. Then again, many purebloods never needed a stronger wand, their magical growth rarely growing beyond their 'first wand'.

"Now, as for these cores, I cannot combine them because these two are symmetrically opposed. They would make the wand volatile and unpredictable, causing harm to you if you were already unfocused and casting in a rush." She saw him nod slightly, but also curious as he opened his lips to ask something. "What about the third one, would it be possible to combine it with another core?" He asked a bit curiously.

"Multiple cores are again possible but add to the difficulty of controlling a wand properly. It would take some effort to tame a core like that, and with the already difficult synthesis of wood this would take a good bit of practice to tame the wand so it would work well for you. I can make it if you wish but you must understand that it could, at worst, force you to spend your first month in school just learning to control the wand and doing poorly at the start of your studies." She wanted to point out to him that this would be putting himself at disadvantage, and it might make him a target for some scorn at the start of the school year. She had to admit though, she was intrigued by the wand she would be making, and the boy.

"I would like to make it a dual core probably, but can you tell me about the ingredients?" She smiled at his question and nodded her head slightly at this. "The first core is phoenix feather, a symbol of life and immortality. They are said to be light creatures, but actually their feathers don't lend themselves to light magic any better than dark magic, they are simply powerful. A wand with a Phoenix feather within it is capable of casting more powerful spells more efficiently, and is excellent for fire-element and healing."

Nodding slightly, Harry could see the benefits of that core, casting a look at the core it opposed then, wondering what he had to lose if her picked the Phoenix feather, feeling curious about what would oppose it so. Having noticed his gaze, the wand-crafter smiled and skipped over the second one to gesture at the third and continued her explanation. "This is powdered Thestral Bone. Associated with Death, and the Unseen. It is a relatively rare but fairly powerful ingredient. Just as the Phoenix could be seen as a 'light' creature despite not lending any actual boost for 'light' magic, the Thestrals are seen as 'dark' creatures even though their bone doesn't lend itself to dark magic any more than light magic." She smiled a hint, continuing her explanation.

"Thestral bone is considered insidious because it lends itself to both silent and quick spell casting. It helps a caster use magic without being noticed, and was at one time considered a favorite of thieves and murderers. However, the ability to cast silently and with minimal gestures is a beneficial ability and though it can be learned with any wand, this core helps master it faster and easier, and continues to support the caster in making their spells harder to notice."

Harry had to admit, he was a little torn, both the Phoenix feather and the Thestral bone were useful and promising, and if he could have he would have taken them both but if they were opposing each other he would have to think about it a moment. Casting a look at the last ingredient that he was fairly sure would be part of his wand either way, he waited to hear what it was and what it stood for.

"Lastly but not least, we have Veela hair. Veela are magical people, rather than creatures, but are capable of shape-shifting from beautiful ladies to powerful elemental birds who can conjure fireballs. It is temperamental and proud ingredient, and requires a wizard or witch take good care of their wand, but it is also loyal and refuses to yield to other casters. It is highly resistant to attempts to disarm the wizard, practically shrugging off expelliarmus like water off a duck's back." The wand-maker smirked slightly, chuckling a hint.

"I like it. I intend to take good care of my wand anyway and the benefits you listed make it certainly worth adding to the wand. I am not sure whether I should go with the feather or bone however, I like both but if they cannot work together I am a bit uncertain." Drawing a deep breath and sighing, Harry thought through about the benefits, and what he would be using the wand for, and finally made up his mind and smiled, tapping the dish with the Thestral bone.

"Excellent choice. It will take me half an hour to synthesize the wood and to place the core within it. When you return for it, I will ask you to donate a drop of your own blood to tie the wand to you personally, which will bond it even tighter to you. Now, there is the matter of price." She watched him seriously as she drew a breath. "Unlike a certain wand-maker at Diagon Alley, I make my wands to suit the wizard or witch and they are carefully suited to match their magical signature as well as I can do. Because of this, I charge a lot more. Your wand comes with a price of fifty two galleons."

Harry's eyes widened slightly but he thought on it a moment and then nod his head. It was a fairly large sum, but the wand he was asking for was likely to be unique and he was able to pay for it. Nodding his head in acceptance, he counted out the coins and set them down on her desk as she watched, nodding and smiling before she wrote him a receipt. "Come back in half an hour and I'll have your wand ready for you."

He was about to leave when a thought struck him on looking around, and he sheepishly spoke up again. "I almost forgot, I need a wand-cleaning kit, as well as a wand holster to strap onto my arm, preferably one with enchantments to hide it and secure the wand against being summoned by someone else." She nodded her head in agreement and retrieved both items, setting them and waiting as he paid for them before writing up the receipt and handing them all over.

The rests of his shopping was a bit more relaxed. Visiting a trunk shop he ordered himself a three-compartment trunk with some advanced protection charms and shrinking charm to make it easier to carry along, the lightening charm being already part of the standard package. He carried onwards to the bookstore and bought the standard first-year books as well as several others, from guide to _occlumency_ to additional manuals on potions, charms and transfiguration, as well as a helpful manual on herbology.

The potion ingredients came next, and he stocked up a bit more than he might have needed to experiment a little even before the schoolyear, alongside a bit more than standard equipment. He was curious about the possibility of growing his own ingredients, he liked the idea of being at least partially self-sufficient in the future after all, but the magical pots to make a little 'greenhouse' and the necessary magical lights and ever-moistening charms for the pots to keep the plants from dying would have cost him more than he was willing to pay, at least yet.

Visiting the _Secret Garderobe_ at the Alchemic Alley he found himself standing near a pair of identical witches, who seemed to be absorbed in their reading. One of them held the latest issue of _Teen Witch Weekly_, while another was holding up _The Secrets of the Stars_, an astronomy book. Harry smiled a bit but stayed quiet, taking a moment to admire their looks and noting a few differences, but trying to avoid staring too much.

"Standard Hogwarts robes for you too then darling?" A sales-witch smiled while letting a measuring tape fly around him in a somewhat similar fashion to the wands store, though this one was taking a lot more measurements and making Harry blush at where it went now and then too.

"A-ah yes, uhm and do you have any charms that can be laid into them?" His question earned a pleased nod from the witch in question. "Yes, yes we do have some though few people come to ask for them because of the price and the fact they believe they will grow out of those robes soon enough. I might suggest getting your robes a little too big and applying a temporary shrinking charm though, you would get more out of your money if you did so."

Harry smiled amusedly and nod his head, voicing out his order which included all the standard clothes and a bit of extra, including some comfortable pajamas to wear while resting in a cold, drafty castle. The little charms to help him stay warm and comfortable were easy enough, and a bit of dirt-repelling charms helped make sure he wouldn't need to do laundry too often, though the sales-witch did remark Hogwarts employed a number of house-elves to help with that and he should not worry about it.

He ended up striking up a conversation about the number of books at the Hogwarts, and though one of the twins seemed a bit displeased at first she started paying attention quickly after Harry mentioned some of those books that dealt with additional charms that he wasn't so sure about such as a tanning charm and such, but since it brought them both to the conversation he figured it was good enough for now.

After he finished his purchases, Harry and the Patil twins parted ways but he took care of the rest of his shopping in a quick and orderly fashion before making his way back to the wand-crafter's store. Finding the woman smiling in an amused fashion at the front-half of her store, Harry stepped forth curiously. Lifting the wand on a pillow from beneath the counter, she asked for Harry to give it a swing, watching eagerly.

As Harry held to the wand the power within it called for him and grasping it firmly, he made a wave with his hand, sending a number of model wands in the air clacking against the walls and falling out of sight, causing Harry to blush and hurriedly try and explain himself while the young woman let out a cheerful laugh and shook her head. "A little less power, but a good effort, please try again." She waved her own wand at the pillows with the model wands and they returned to their place, while Harry tried again.

This time, he caused one of the pillows to levitate a bit in the air and rotate, before settling down, and all of that without sparks or light shows or anything. Nodding amusedly and grinning the woman let out a chuckle. "Alright, it looks like you will have to practice a little but it recognizes its master. I'll give you a needle to prick your finger with, and I need you to brush a drop of blood onto the little sigil near the base of the wand. After that is done we'll shape your wand for the finish, and then we are done. It is in basic shape but you can see the different models you can have your wand shaped into on those pillows. Don't worry about them, those are hollow wands without a core, just out there to give an idea of what the wand can look like when its shaped."

Harry nodded his head and looked around a bit after adding his blood onto the wand's base, before handing it back and naming his selection. Focusing on her own magic, the wand-crafter made the wood shift under his very eyes, seeming to have it grow over the bloodied symbol on it and gain a bit more crimson finish to its surface, while adapting the look that Harry had chosen.

"Eleven inches, ashwood and bloodoak synthesis, a core of veela hair and thestral bone, and blood-bonded to Harry James Potter. Your wand is ready, and awaits your command." Smirking amusedly as she handed the wand back to him, she watched his face as he touched it again, feeling the wand drawing in his power and mingling it with its own. The sensation always made the young witches and wizards give the funniest faces.

She had a feeling it gave her an almost unique sense of seeing what might be their 'orgasm' faces later on in life, a little fact that would have her giggling if it hadn't been inappropriate of her to do so. Certainly having a wand that was an optimal match to you was a pleasure, but her thoughts about the kind of pleasure it provided at the initial pull might be a bit of a dirty imagination on her part. Still, she was delighted to see the wizard staring at the wand and her in turns with a bit flushed but pleased look on his face.

"Its brilliant!" He stated enthusiastically, earning a warm laughter from the wand-crafter who graced him with a gentle smile and a nod. "I am sure it will serve you well, as long as you remember to take proper care of it. Now run along, and don't be a stranger if you need something else later, and if you feel your wand isn't doing its job later on in your life feel free to drop in. Not many wizards or witches realize that magic can grow with a person to a point they would have a better match with a new wand, though some have their wand grow with them in their own ways." She smirked, ushering him out and chuckling quietly after he left.

Harry packed his belongings into his trunk and headed back home, finding it had got a little late already as he passed through the Leaky Cauldron, but on inquiring about wizarding methods of transportation he had a perfect answer for the immediate problem. Raising his wand, he called for the Knight Bus that the bartender, Tom, had advised him on.

A moment later the large bus seemed to emerge from thin air with a bang, parking in front of him as a wizard stepped out seeming to read a bit of advertisement off a card before looking right at him. Realizing the little speech was over, Harry merely shook his head and told where he needed to go, and paid for the ride. Taking a seat on the nearest bench, he waited as the bus rushed through the busy London streets and out of them towards Privet Drive. It didn't take long before the bus emerged from its frantic rush with a new 'bang' that seemed to go unnoticed by any of the others around the area as the bus pulled into a halt at the bus-stop closest to Privet Drive.

Thanking the driver for the ride and getting off, Harry felt his stomach churning slightly about the hurried ride but he was in walking distance of home again at least. His trunk shrunk in his pocket he headed home feeling good about the day's shopping and revelations. Pulling the key from his pocket, he opened the front door stepping in to find his aunt and uncle watching the television, with Dudley probably off in his room with his comics.

"Ahh, welcome home Harry, there's a bit of soup in the fridge just heat it up." Petunia called out to him and then returned her attention to the television. Nodding his head thoughtfully Harry proceeded to do just that, heating up the soup and eating up before excusing himself and returning to his room. Once there he enlargened his trunk and checked his new acquisitions. Robes and other clothes in one compartment, books and parchment in one, and lastly the potion ingredients, ink, quills, as well as the equipment for both Potions and Astronomy class stored there. Nodding his head in satisfaction, he picked a few books and set them on his bed before hopping over there to start reading.

He had chosen to deepen his understanding of Occlumency with the newest book on it, his mother's notes had helped him organize his mind a fair bit years ago already, but the latest discoveries in common knowledge could still be useful. He had little interest in actually using the Legilimency side of the mind-arts, but he believed the proverb "_Knowledge is Power, hide it well" _as well as _"an open mind is like a fortress with its gates open and unbarred." _There would be others who would be all too keen on his secrets at the castle, and he was not intent to let them get away with it.

His mother's instructions had helped him fashion a rather cruel trap against a legilimencer actually, but he had put it in place despite the few worries he had initially had. Anyone with 'accidential' legilimency due to a natural talent would only skim the surface thoughts anyway, and this one would call for an intentional, past surface probe to work properly. Anyone that came across it would not have his best interests in mind anyway, and would deserve all they got.

Seeing as there was no indication of similar defenses in the new book, he was reasonably sure that Lily's idea was both brilliant and unexpected, or if it was known it was not available in the books that were in open circulation at least. He'd need to see how effective it really was in actual use someday, but he figured he'd be happy never having to use it at all. If someone did try and get to his mind though, they would be in for a rather unwelcome surprise.

His attention slowly drifted over towards the potions books and he hummed thoughtfully before moving to pick them up in turn and start to look through. Time to do a little bit of preparatory studying he thought to himself, smiling silently.

Having sent his acceptance letter after leaving Gringotts by the use of a rental owl, Harry Potter had not bought himself an owl or any other pet just yet, figuring he would have a lot of things to do while at Hogwarts and he did not want to get a new pet while he wasn't able to focus on taking care of the pet properly. Perhaps next year he could get a pet for himself, when he was a little more used to the magical world.

Those thoughts in mind he delved into the texts and soon enough he found the theory too fascinating to avoid testing it out in practice. The potions set prepared on his desk, he began the process of brewing with his room's window held a bit open to help with the fumes starting to arise from the small cauldron quickly enough.

His aunt would love this, he thought to himself with a smirk. The little mixture would help the garden flourish even in his absence, enriching the soil and letting the roses bloom strong and healthy. The mix was meant to help magical herbs grow but it would work with mundane plants just as well. It was a little strong for them, but given that he could mix it with a fair share of water and use the diluted solution to cover even more ground suited him just fine.

Back at Hogwarts, a vice headmistress was looking through a stack of replies quietly, noticing with surprise that Harry Potter's reply was among them as well. She had been sure they would refuse to let the boy even read his letter, let alone send back a reply anytime soon. She had prepared to give the second one to Albus and tell him to go see the lad himself, but it seemed she didn't need to do that.

Sighing with relief at finding it to be a positive reply and affirmation that Harry Potter was going to be attending she smiled to herself noticing the boy's handwriting wasn't bad, even if he was probably new to writing with a quill. She silently compared it to the hastily scratched note from the youngest Weasley brother, complete with ink and jelly stains, and sighed quietly. One more Weasley boy, and then her little sister. Hopefully they wouldn't take after Fred and George. She had enough pranksters in her house of lions already.

**End Chapter**

I said I ought to write down the bit of challenge I issued to myself, and figured I'd share it though I doubt I'll see others following along something as silly as what I throw together.

\- Harry Potter was born with a natural understanding of magic, and a connection that is unlike any other. He is powerful in the more common magic, but he also has little trouble with learning the more advanced sorts of talents. He is already able to adjust and change wards, tamper with spells he witnesses, and witness auras of magic by sight, smell, touch, noise, or simple feel of them, your choice in that. Harry may be strong, but he is not infallible nor invincible, though with preparation he just might appear that way.

Rules:

1) Harry was raised by the Dursleys. They have not abused him, but need not have loved him.

2) Harry has taken over the Wards at Privet Drive, and tweaked them for his own preferences.

3) Dumbledore has not been acting in Harry's best interests, and Harry's been made aware of this.

4) Harry knows a lot more about the magical world than in canon. He intends to make full use of this.

5) Harry may have been a Horcrux, but he has broken it already if he was.

6) While not truly Dark, Harry is more Grey than Light, and willing to kill those who threaten him.

7) Harry goes to Hogwarts, he may be sorted in -any- of the Houses but he does not get his own 5th House.

8) Harry may be paired with any female cast member of your choice, or have a harem. Harry is not gay.

9) Snape &amp; Dumbledore will not enjoy meeting this Harry.

Optional:

1) Harry is the Potter heir, but does **not** have a half-dozen other titles as well. Potters are richer than people think however, given their _muggle_ or _mundane_ investments. Grunnings, anybody?

2) Harry Potter is genre-savvy and plans to take vengeance on those who tried to wrong him, personally.

3) Sirius Black will be released early and join the efforts against Dumbledore.

4) Remus Lupin is a traitor and a servant of Dumbledore

5) Harry intends to get his Owls and Newts early.

6) Harry is a potions prodigy intent on making Snape 2nd most youngest potions master in a century.

7) Harry Potter is an animagus, but his form is relatively harmless or possibly humorous. (Chicken, Sparrow, Housecat, feel free to list suggestions)

8) Luna Lovegood is an epitome of Slytherin, cunning person who hides her true self beneath a mask that makes others underestimate her. She is cunning, observant, as well as a smart person. She may work for her own goal, she may be working together with Harry for some common goals, or she may be a secret villain with a plan of her own, which may or may not cause complications for Harry or others.

9) Hermione Granger may be smart but her authority worship may just make her a liability as well. She either has to learn who is worthy of respect and who is not, or she has to be left out of Harry's plans.

That said, this is the 2nd installment of this little story and the next part would be the train-trip to Hogwarts, and the start of the year.

I have written before in various people's points of view, and focused more in them, but for this tale I mainly intend to follow along Harry, though I may put up a bit of writing on the others while Harry is doing things that would hardly catch much notice and could be skipped over easily enough.


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I am merely playing with other people's creations, I don't own the game/book/anime/TV-show I am borrowing from, nor am I making any money with this. I am writing for fun and practice, as fan-fiction to be shared with others if I feel like it.

**Chapter 3: Heading to Hogwarts**

Young Harry had spent his time well after having bought his new books, and prepared for his coming lessons with a fair share of practice. Though the books mentioned the reasonable restriction to underage sorcery, his wand was not from Ollivander's store and did not have a pre-set trace within it. He had checked, the wand-crafter had not placed one on it. Of course, if he got caught and his wand examined they might well place such a trace on it, but given Harry's abilities that trace would only last as long as the adults were watching him and his wand.

So he had practiced his spellwork, with a fair bit of discretion of course, and already made sure he had the basics somewhat down. The first attempts had been disastrous as the wand-crafter had warned him, with the wand channeling too much of his power at once and raising havoc. He was fairly sure the big rock he meant to levitate out at the abandoned park bad been banished right up into the orbit by his levitation spell, a shock that made him wary of casting anything on himself.

Taming the wand hadn't taken him a whole month though, it came under his control in two week's time and by then, he'd learned a fair share of theory already and been practicing his spellcasting where it was possible to do so without interference. He had made his aunt very happy when he presented her with the 'secret ingredient' for making her garden a source of envy for all the neighbors. After Harry had applied some of it once, Petunia was sold on its effect. Given it could be sprayed from a bottle as necessary she didn't even have to get on her knees and dirty with the soil to maintain a good garden.

The little thing had bought him time off from his chores and a chance to practice a lot, but he knew time was running out already. After his birth-day, he was aware someone had attempted to come meet with him, but given the _harmful intentions _the wards had banished the said person a few blocks away, and they had not been gentle about it. Whoever it had been, had undoubtedly spent a fair bit of time recovering from broken bones and a magical burn, but they had apparently taken the hint and not attempted it again.

The message from Gringotts had arrived to his address soon after that, stating that his proxy had been changed, and that the Gringotts had employed the services of a witch in their service to present Harry and Gringotts alike in the Wizengamot in that meanwhile, as well as letting him know he could request a change of proxy at any time but that the goblins believed it best the wizards were not pushed too hard by having an actual goblin sitting in Wizengamot, no matter how much fun it would have been for them to bloody the purebloods metaphorical noses by doing so.

The guest that had been banished so violently hinted at an attempt to find out what was going on and perhaps change his mind before the school year properly started, but it had been repelled effectively and he was merely wondering what the year would bring. Those thoughts had circled around in his mind during the trip to the King's Cross station, and even as he got out of the car to wave for his uncle he wondered about the coming year and the challenges that lay ahead of him.

Crossing through the mundane side of the platform, he recalled his mother's instructions walking right into the right pillar, the magic making his disappearance from the platform seem like he'd just walked off somewhere else to the mundane eyes. To his own senses, walking through the stone pillar was like stepping through a doorway to a chilly room for a second and then crossing through it to another larger open space, the platform 9 and three quarters. It was a bit unpleasant chill to him to cross over so, but he wasn't about to complain.

It was still half eleven, and the Hogwarts Express would not set out before eleven so he figured he had plenty of time to find a proper seat. Getting into the train, he began to look around a little curious, noticing a few others apparating to a marked spot on the platform nearby as well and guiding their children to the train.

There were plenty of empty compartments, but Harry did see a couple of people here and there, already chatting together. Figuring he'd have a chance to get to know people over at Hogwarts as well, he walked along until he came across a compartment with a pair of familiar faces. Smiling, he knocked on the door and then opened it to step in and bow his head slightly to the two seated girls.

"Nice to see you two again." He smiled, noticing the two of them had already changed into their robes and nodded their heads in return. "Hey Harry, nice to see you made it on time." Parvati, he thought to himself seeing the Teen Witch Weekly on her lap.

"Hey Harry." The second twin smiled while covering up the title of her book with her hand as she nodded her head to him. Padma liked to read a fair bit, and Harry found she had some interesting books too, but it seemed some of them were not meant for him to know about and unfortunately this appeared to be one of them.

"Would you two mind if I sat down with you? I'd rather not be alone for the journey." He was met with a synchronized nod and a smile from the two. "Not at all, have a seat." Padma said calmly, while Parvati chuckled. "You know, you are on the cover of Teen Witch Weekly. Someone took a shot of you out shopping, and we got on the cover too."

Grinning she presented the magazine to Harry who opened it only to groan loudly at the image. It was about him being measured up for the new clothes, and chatting with the twin Indian witches. Nothing really bad about it, but the headlines the magazine had come up with made him both blush and shake his head.

"Mr. Harry James Potter has emerged, and he has definitely inherited both his father's handsome good looks and his mother's intense green eyes a girl could get lost gazing into. Not only is this young gentleman charming in looks but he is also learned in the proper manners as evidenced by this by-play of his shopping trip and subsequent conversation with a pair of young witches. Obviously young Mr. Potter is not worried about cooties but is an example of what a finely maturing young gentleman should be like. These two lucky witches got the first-hand experience of Mr. Potter's charm as he engaged them in a lengthy conversation showcasing a brilliant mind behind those dreamy green eyes. Smart, wealthy, polite, and good looking, Mr. Potter ranks number one on the most eligible bachelors of the Teen Witch Weekly this week and we expect him to maintain his position for many years to come."

The blush on his face must have been hilarious sight as both girls were laughing joyfully at the embarrassed look he had, but then smiled to him while teasing him a bit further. "They are right about those dreamy green eyes, but I think it is a bit insulting to put someone as young as you at the first place already, no offense Harry. I am sure you'd get there in a couple of years but right now, I think you should be a little young to most teen witches." Parvati grinned amusedly, while Padma chuckled.

"They made a big deal about such a mundane little thing as shopping though. I guess they really have wanted to write a piece on you for a long time, seeing as you have been out of reach for a decade." Padma smiled a bit apologetically, earning a reassuring smile from Harry in turn. "Well I was left with my relatives when my parents died, and I grew up away from the magical world thanks to that. I only came back when my letter arrived so I guess that helped me stay away from photographers before."

"Makes sense. So, have you given any thought about what House you are going to end up in?" Padma asked a bit curiously, and though Parvati pretended to be reading the magazine once she got it back it was apparent she was listening in as well. This earned a short chuckle from Harry who leaned back a bit and hummed.

"I think most people are assuming I will be a Gryffindor like my parents. From what I understood from my mother's diary however, its more about what you are like than who you are related to. You can plead your case to get into another house if you wish, which explains why some people get into a house that is unsuited for them but which their family has been in before. Personally, I plan to see where I go by my own merits rather than ask for any particular one." He smiled, earning a nod from the two as they looked at him curious to hear more. Padma was always eager for more information, and Parvati liked to know more about people as well.

"Gryffindors are characteristically brave, daring, and believe in chivalry. Unfortunately they can also act on instinct and impulsively move ahead, earning them a reputation for acting before thinking. Slytherin are said to value ambition, cleverness and cunning, but the recent years have painted them in a dark shade because many believe that all the death-eaters came from Slytherin, though that is false. There were some from all houses, even Gryffindor." He saw the look of surprise on the two witches faces, but continued on his explanation.

"Now the Ravenclaws are considered witty, creative, and wise. Unfortunately they also have a reputation as bookworms and teacher's pets who only care about books and not the world beyond them. Lastly, the Hufflepuff are loyal, hard-working and dedicated according to the _Hogwarts, a History_, but they are also considered the house of leftovers, people that didn't get picked by a 'better' founder." He sighed heavily at this.

"I'd see them more as the house for the want-to-be-heroes, the ones that want power and think they are better than everyone, the ones that are wanting to get the best education they can, and the ones that believe in making connections with other people and learning things together. " He smiled slightly at this.

"Personally, I'd avoid Gryffindor and Slytherin, the two groups seem to have a rivalry that gets bloody from time to time. Hexing in the school corridors isn't supposed to happen but at least according to my mother's old books that was a regular occurence when she was a student and well before that time too. So I hope to get into either Ravenclaw or Hufflepuff. I like learning and study hard, but I am also happy to make new friends and I am happy to work together just as well as I would be to work alone, both are valid methods to go about, different experiences make for a better chance to learn." He smiled amusedly, seeing the two girls look at him and each other thoughtfully.

"When you put it that way, it does sound like getting picked into Gryffindor would be bad for you. I mean, you have a reputation for a hero already but you'd make enemies of all the Slytherin probably, well beyond what might already be there since some of them are children of the supposedly imperioused death-eaters." Padma said this entirely seriously while Parvati shivered visibly at the thought.

"Yes, and I think even if I got picked for Slytherin I would face scorn from them, and I have no intent of getting in the middle of that school-yard fight. I am happy with Ravenclaw or Hufflepuff, I will listen to the arguments for Gryffindor or Slytherin but given the amount of information available in the books I consider at least somewhat trustworthy it seems that those two would be the worse choices for study environment. Ravenclaw provides support for lone studying, and the Hufflepuff for study groups."

Shrugging his shoulders a little and leaning back Harry pulled his trunk from his pocket to set it down and open it, pulling out his robes and setting them down on the seat next to him, planning to go change in the nearby bathroom soon. It was when he switched over to the book-compartment when he heard the twin gasps from the twin girls who were staring at the wealth of tomes he had stacked up there already. Granted, he had plenty of room left but he had more than twice the usual books for first year in there.

"You got multi-compartment trunk? And a shrinking one? Wow, that must have cost a lot." Parvati said this before blushing a bit, realizing what it sounded like. Padma chuckled and shook her head. "Forget about that, all those books, oh Harry please tell me you are willing to share?" She asked him with pleading eyes that made Harry blush a bit and chuckle. "Uh, sure I guess I can loan out one, but not the ones I am currently reading."

Looking over at Parvati's embarrassed face he then continued. "Don't worry about it, and yeah it cost a bit more than I guess most people want to pay for their children's first trunk but I wanted a trunk I could use even after the schoolyears are over, and I got some useful charms because I want to study them and enchanting too at some point. The name Potter does originate from the ones that made pots for both display and use, and imply working with one's hands. I wouldn't mind learning a bit about some manual crafts, like herbology, potions and enchanting as well. I believe that it could be fun creating things for myself and others."

"Well..." Parvati looked at Padma and after a subtle nod she looked at Harry seriously. "Look, I am going to let you in on a secret but I am going to ask that you promise not to tell anyone else." Harry nod his head and raised his wand a bit, nodding his head solemnly. "I promise to keep your secret." It wasn't an oath but it was about as formal as one could make a promise without actually making an oath out of it. As much as he enjoyed their company, if they had something outright criminal planned he didn't want to be bound in an oath about it and charged as accomplice later on.

"The two of us have been planning to attend Hogwarts separately, I mean, both of us will pick a House that suits us and broaden our circle of friends and contacts that way, as well as get comparative views of Hogwarts. We were thinking of Gryffindor and Ravenclaw, but after hearing all that I think it would be wiser if the two of us went to Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff. Whichever side you might end up in, if we really can decide for ourselves I mean, then seek out the one of us in the same house and we'll all get together now and then. We've already had plans to meet now and then."

In truth, they had even planned to switch around and see if anyone noticed a difference, but they weren't going to let Harry in on all of their secrets. Of course, Harry noticed some subtle signs between the two of them, and even without legilimency he could pick up they had more plans than what they had stated but it didn't seem malicious so he smiled warmly at that. "I think I would like that. As long as you don't mind hanging out with a boy." He smirked a bit teasingly.

"As long as you don't start acting like a little piggy." Padma smirked in turn, while Harry chuckled. "No worries, my aunt would put me over her knee despite my age if she heard I'd been acting that way." He saw the two of them laugh and grinned slightly. He might have been embarrassed about something like that if he hadn't thrown it off as an absurd joke, but it got them smiling. Besides, Harry saw no sense in acting like a total pig. Sure, he could burp out loud in private if he chose to but that didn't mean he had to try and make some public contest of trying to out-gross others. Dudley had tried that at school and Harry had a warning example of the repercussions of such behavior back then.

They had not yet gotten on the move when the door to their compartment opened and they turned to see a pair of young girls look in the compartment curiously, a young red-headed girl standing beside a blonde girl who seemed to be staring at Harry in surprise. "Hi, would you mind two more in here? I am Susan Bones, and this is my best friend Hannah."

"I don't mind." Harry smiled and looked at the Patil twins who nod and smiled. "Come in, the more the merrier." The two girls made their way inside, when Harry stood up and stretched out slightly. "I think I'll go in the bathroom to switch into my robe and be back, best get that out of the way while there's not a rush of people here yet." He smiled to the girls and headed out, making his way towards the bathroom.

While he did plan on changing, he had a feeling that at least Hannah had recognized him already, and they would likely have some questions for the Patil twins while he was gone. He'd introduce himself when he got back, but he really figure it was better he got changed before they were on the way already, and it was ten minutes till they would have to get on the move.

Pulling on a school robe Harry soon returned to the compartment finding the girls whispering to one another excitedly and chuckling even as he pulled the door open and stepped inside. They smiled to him as he moved in and took a seat besides the Patil twins opposite of the two newcomers, waving a hand. "Back, sorry about that but you came in about the same time as I had already began to get ready, taking my robes out of my trunk. I'm Harry Potter, it is nice to meet you two."

Hannah stared at his forehead a bit intently, and Harry felt slightly uncomfortable with this but ended up lifting the bit of hair off his forehead, to show the faint scar. He did notice her blink in surprise. "That is the scar then? Um, it's a lot less prominent than in the books." She looked a bit apologetically at Harry while Susan cast her a scolding look. "Ah, sorry about that."

"It's alright, I guess people would be curious about it. It's been a decade since that day though, and while it did look ugly for a while it began to heal away eventually and its almost gone by now. I imagine before Hogwarts ends there's no signs of it there anymore." He smiled in a relaxed manner, and saw Hannah relax a bit too. She had got her foot in her mouth with her hurry, but he wasn't going to hold it against her.

A little while passed in some comfortable chatting, when a young red haired man pulled open the compartment door and looked inside. Harry had picked up a book earlier and was reading it with his head a bit cast down at the time, not paying it too much attention except at the corner of his eye.

"Uh, sorry wrong compartment." The red-haired youth said, heading off again, just as the train started to move. Silently blinking at the strange interruption, Harry chose to stay quiet. Nevertheless he continued reading, and it seemed that Parvati had taken up asking about things from Susan and Hannah by now about the Hufflepuff house, while Padma was reading on one of Harry's books, more specifically, the guide to Occlumency and organizing one's own mind.

Harry himself was going over the potions book he had bought after being warned the potion book suggested by Hogwarts was a bit poor for newcomers, and expected the students to have the basics down and yet still failed to convey useful information very well. He had picked up another that contained the same recipes and a few more, but it was less respected book because unlike the school reading list that included a potions book by a Pureblood, the one Harry was reading was written by a half-blood.

Then again, both of the writers had been potions masters, but the Pureblood had one after years of apprenticeship while the half-blood had tested out and received her mastery for outstanding work even without a master-apprentice bond, and had gotten hers in half the usual time.

Potions and Herbology were a good starting point for his idea of crafting things for his own use, and he had made sure to have some practice with a variety of things. He also carried a few vials in a small pocket within his robes that had been spelled to protect its contents and hard to find unless the one seeking them was wearing the robes. That had been part of his mother's little tricks, something she'd shared with his father and the group that James had belonged to.

Having a couple of healing potions at hand for any emergencies might be useful and he had found a few others that worked well when one had to defend themselves against a surprise, even if they lost their wand. He believed in being a bit over-prepared rather than being caught unprepared, but he did hope he'd not need those potions anytime soon.

"That was Ronald Weasley wasn't it?" Hannah spoke up, and the last name made Harry pause. Weasley, that was the same name as in the invalid marriage contract in his vault. "Weasley?" He asked a bit surprised, seeing Hannah look over at him and nod before she hurried to explain. "They are part of an old family, a quite poor but usually nice family, and well, they are pretty numerous. Six brothers and a sister, can you imagine that?"

Harry shivered. That was big numbers, certainly. If they were involved in things with Dumbledore, he'd have to watch his back around them then. "Oh, I thought I'd heard the name somewhere before but I didn't realize he was one of them." Harry remarked briefly but shrugged, while Susan nodded a bit. "Well I wouldn't be surprised, Mrs. Weasley is famous for her howlers, she really has quite a nasty voice when she gets mad and the word is she's even driven her two oldest sons to leave the country behind as quickly as they could get away. Ron's the youngest son, and my aunt told me to watch out for his two older twin brothers, Fred and George, because they already have a file with the Aurors about their pranks that could, if done by someone who wasn't underage, be considered an assault." This made Harry's eyes widen a bit.

He believed in having a bit of fun with pranks now and then but going that far was certainly not a nice sign. If they were on Dumbledore's side, it could mean they might try and get to him in a variety of ways. His father had done a lot of pranks, and his mother's notes listed out many of them involved a number of potions and other surprises in the food. He'd have to feel his food through with his magic before he ate then, just in case.

"Thanks for the warning. I appreciate it." He bowed his head a little to the girls, before drawing a breath and briefly wondering about telling them about that invalid contract or not, but something made him wonder about what Susan had said earlier. "How come your aunt knows that they have a file with the aurors?" He asked in a puzzled manner, earning a smile from Susan. "Well she is the Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement."

His eyes widened a bit before he nod and smiled. "Oh, well I think she'd be a reliable source. Well, I hope you don't spread this around too much, but if your aunt wouldn't mind finding out about this... my proxy, one Albus Dumbledore, apparently tried to enter an illegal marriage contract between me and one Ginevra Molly Weasley before I even came to Gringotts for the first time in a decade."

He said this completely seriously, and then leaned back to observe. Seeing the look on both Hannah's and Parvati's eyes, he figured the secret would spread out like a wildfire through the castle, making it hard for Dumbledore to suffocate the truth about it, and if Susan sent a word about it to her own aunt and she asked the goblins, then Dumbledore could try and protest and claim innocence on the matter all he wanted but it would be common knowledge soon enough that Dumbledore had at least _tried _to force such a contract.

Given that proxies or guardians were not legally permitted to make any such contracts for the heirs of any Houses that would raise a nasty stink, and that it was done without his input would make it worse, and given that he _was _Harry Potter it would result in some rather interesting questions being raised quickly. "The man left me at my relatives doorstep in a basket alongside a letter ten years ago, if I hadn't come across my mother's journals and diary there I wouldn't even have known about the magical world before I got my letter. My aunt didn't want to talk about it until I had the journal as proof."

This bit of revelations had Hannah and Parvati practically bouncing on their seats wanting to spread the word quickly, but Padma looked thoughtful and frowned on the implications, while Susan looked suitably horrified. She swallowed briefly and then addressed him in a serious manner. "Mr. Potter, I would like to inform my aunt in her official capacity about what you have shared with me. Would you give me your oath this is true so I do not embarrass her on a silly prank? I apologize but I must check this."

Harry nodded his head, finding the request very well thought out and respected Susan for it. He raised his wand quickly and swore on it. "I, Harry James Potter, here by swear on my life and magic that everything I have told you in the last few minutes is true. So mote it be." He immediately followed this by casting _lumos_, and smiled.

The girls seemed pleased to see him actually perform a bit of magic, even if it was a small charm that they'd all be learning, and might well have been practicing already in the past too, and the confirmation that he wasn't just pulling their leg on it made the matter all the more interesting for them. It was a show of trust he'd tell them this, and if the House Bones acted to help him then it would bring them prestige in its own ways. Harry would make sure to show proper gratitude if that happened, and he had a feeling that having Susan's aunt on his side would be a tremendous asset in the future.

Susan immediately began to dig for some parchment and a quill from her trunk, writing down a letter before opening the cage her little owl had been resting in during the journey so far. Whispering to the little owl, she tied up the letter on its leg before opening the window and nodding to the bird. Rising to its wings, the little owl was gone in a quick rush once it got past the window, heading back towards London.

They weren't far away yet, so it would not be a long way to the DMLE office, but the little owl would probably have a long flight back, unless of course Madame Bones chose to appear at Hogwarts herself and bring Susan's owl back with her. It was very possible she would though, given the seriousness of the news that Harry had just disclosed to Susan. Of course, he did realize that by letting the cat out of the bag he would likely tarnish not only Dumbledore but the Weasley family with the hidden attempt, but given that it took approval from at least one of the girl's parents their family wasn't entirely innocent in this either.

All of a sudden, a bushy haired witch pulled the door open and looked inside at the group. "Excuse me, but has any of you seen a toad in here? One of the boys lost him, his name is Trevor." She explained while looking at the group of people a bit curiously, while Harry blinked.

"Sorry, no, but wouldn't it be best to look around in the compartment he was in, or that train car? A toad wouldn't be able to hop from one train car to another I think, at least I'd be very surprised. Well, if all else fails I'd ask one of the older students to use a summoning charm or to cast a 'point me' spell for it?" He saw the girl's eyes widen before she quickly smiled. "That's a good idea, thanks!" She hurriedly closed the door and rushed off, while Harry looked at the others.

"Did anyone catch her name?" He asked a bit stunned at the rush the girl had been in, but as he saw everyone shake their heads he shrugged and sighed, slumping down on his seat. They had a bit of way to go still before they'd reach Hogwarts, and then they'd be facing the sorting. He wondered whether he would find himself in Ravenclaw, as his appetite in books was considerable, or in the Hufflepuff, as he was keen to try and build a circle of friends to study and work with as well. He did consider himself a bit chivalrous in his behavior, but that could just be good manners his aunt insisted on. He did have his ambitions, and cunning, but he tempered them down and kept them from becoming obsessive.

Of course, he had his own grim thoughts on some of the parts. He was more Ravenclaw than Hufflepuff in that he'd be happy to study the forbidden lore if it opened paths for him to understanding more about the magic beneath, even though the studies themselves could be used for dark purposes did not mean he shouldn't explore them, it would still be his call whether to ever actually use them or just seek to understand them.

He was also more Hufflepuff than Ravenclaw in his recognition that knowledge had more worth when one was willing to put it to use, and the fact he believed some knowledge had to be learned in life rather than found in the pages of a book. He also held loyalty and firm resolve in some things. He would be willing to kill for his friends, he wasn't looking to die for them but if it came down to it he would not hesitate to kill someone if the situation warranted it, and they were threatening his friends.

Given that he had been raised in a decent manner, such thoughts might have been troubling from a boy that young, but the curse used on him and the manner of dark wards wrapped around his neighborhood and binding his own power at a young age had taught him about the darker side of things as well. He had shattered those obstacles, but he did not survive the experience pure and white, his colors were more grey than they were light. In his eyes, light could not exist without darkness, and darkness served its purpose as well though it must never consume the light.

Harry had chosen to be grey from a very early age on, and though he might act in a more Light-side manner usually than dark or grey, once push came to shove it would not be stunners that he would be throwing. Enemies were obstacles, and obstacles were made to be destroyed. Woe to the vanquished, he thought to himself grimly as his thoughts came to roam about the people awaiting at the castle, and the deeds they'd already committed.

**End Chapter**

A/N: Alright, next chapter should get past the sorting and start the lessons. I am not planning to play out the whole sorting scene, it has been written many times in many ways, but I do plan to write a bit. I just don't plan to make a huge production of it. Beyond that, Harry's year at Hogwarts will begin and some of the reactions will start to show.

I focus more on Harry in this story than in some of my other stories, not showing how people elsewhere are acting and reacting, but I hope there's a decent feel of things living in the background as well despite that.

daithi4377, you've been reviewing a lot of my stories chapter by chapter. It's pretty encouraging to hear your thoughts, you are not alone in doing that but I have enjoyed reading your small replies now and again.

magitech, thank you for sharing your thoughts as well, I've seen your replies a few times and it makes me think about what I've got written and what I've got planned when I read your thoughts on things, and that sometimes helps me refine ideas a bit further as well.

I've been amused by this little bit of tale so far, and intend to keep going at it, but I also plan on posting in my other stories (like Warlock's Throne) on the side as well. Still, I'll update as often as I can pull it off.


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: I am merely playing with other people's creations, I don't own the game/book/anime/TV-show I am borrowing from, nor am I making any money with this. I am writing for fun and practice, as fan-fiction to be shared with others if I feel like it.

**Chapter 4: Hogwarts and Hogtied.**

The journey to Hogwarts took several hours, and given that the only real meal they had on the way was the candy they could purchase from the trolley that a lone witch pushed through the train once along the journey, they were all feeling a bit hungry. Harry and the girls had sampled some candy but kept it to a small amount. There had been a brief disturbance later on when a young man with blonde hair showed up at their cabin's door but had walked away on noticing Susan had already drawn her wand and eyeing him warily.

Harry chose not to ask but just listening in he had learned that the boy was Draco Malfoy who was a son of a known death eater who had escaped justice by the Imperius defense that would not held water under veritaserum but had unfortunately been accepted by the former minister Bagnold in exchange for some gold fattening her retirement fund. Harry thought grimly that it was a good enough warning to avoid the lad as well, but thanks to Susan's presence in the same compartment they were still strangers in a sense, and their stance towards one another would be established later on.

When they finally arrived Harry joined the Patil twins and Susan in a boat, with Hannah having chosen to sit down with a few others seeing that the boat Harry was in had already gotten full. The journey across the lake had drawn up several pairs of eyes to stare at the sight of the castle standing in the distance, majestic and powerful. They would all be learning magic there soon, and that thought thrilled them, having them eager to get started, but given how late it had already become it was likely they would be heading to bed soon after their sorting and some evening meal.

They were made to wait a little while in the antechamber before the main-hall, while Harry watched the Ghosts appearing from the wall above them. It was like in her mother's journal, and he had a feeling the whole thing was a set-up to impress the first years. At least it interrupted some of the muttering around him, giving him a moment of peace.

Then the sorting began. He saw Susan and Hannah join the Hufflepuff table to start with, and then noticed the familiar, bushy-haired brunette joining the Gryffindor table. She certainly seemed excitable enough for one, a shame as he had a feeling she could have done well in Ravenclaw if she just calmed down a bit, she did have the look of an intelligent young woman. Ah well.

Draco Malfoy was sorted to the Slytherin almost immediately after the hat had touched his head, no surprises there. The boy must have been demanding to be placed there and the hat gave in, because the boy obviously did not have a cunning bone in his body. Patil Twins came soon after, and he watched the two of them split as they had mentioned. Padma went to Ravenclaw, while Parvati went to Hufflepuff. Finally, his name was read and the hall fell into silence.

Walking forth, Harry made his way to the seat and the vice headmistress set the hat down on his head. Immediately, he felt something brush his occlumency barriers but focused on not snapping them shut around the hat since his mother's journal did mention it had a purpose for doing this and was sworn on its own magic and thus its own existence to never reveal the secrets of the students it had sorted.

"Hmmh, difficult, very difficult. You have the cunning that Slytherin himself would have been proud of but you despise the way his House has become a breeding pit of bigotry. You got the courage of a Gryffindor and a temper for one too, but you dislike the heroics and believe in smarter approach. Yes, you definitely got Ravenclaw's thirst for knowledge and are a creative soul, but you would not devote your life to just learning. Hufflepuff then, hmm yes you certainly have loyalty to those you believe worth it, and you have no fear of hard work, and like making good friends. Very difficult, indeed." The hat thought to itself, those words whispered right into his mind.

_'Not Slytherin or Gryffindor. I don't want any part of their little house-war.'_Harry focused on the thought, and he could swear he heard the hat chuckling in his mind. "Not either of them huh? Then I will just evaluate between the other two. In truth you could fit in any of the houses, but don't let that go to your head, many are the same but value one thing more than the others, you see good and bad in all of them. I think such an analytical mind would do well in _RAVENCLAW!_"

The Ravenclaws cheered while the Gryffindors looked shocked, as did many of the Slytherin. The hero of Wizarding World didn't go to Gryffindor, that was already a huge bit of news. Harry moved to sit down among the Ravenclaws, taking a spot next to Padma smiling to her happily and nodding while the rest of the sorting carried on. He saw the Weasley boy at the end sorted to Gryffindor and nodded quietly to himself. He had averted the worst two people by averting the worst two houses.

From the sounds of it though the things he had shared in the train had began to spread in the different tables. Parvati had struck a conversation with Lavender Brown before their sorting and she appeared to spread a word in the Gryffindor, while Parvati and Hannah were getting the word out among the Hufflepuff. He had a feeling that the Ravenclaws and Slytherin would come to know things soon too, but those two tables were already talking about it in quick whispers.

As the Headmaster declared everyone welcome and opened the feast with a few odd words, the food appeared on their tables. Everyone began to eat though Harry's narrowed eyes picked up the magic in use in the food. There was no real potions spread out in their meals or juice, not even his own goblet, but it was just the first night. At least Dumbledore was not stupid enough to try and dose them all with loyalty potions, that would have buried the man the moment one of them went to Saint Mungos and got tested for previously present potions in their system.

His thoughts were interrupted however when he heard the front doors opened forcefully, and saw an older, powerful looking woman walking in who resembled an older, more mature Susan in some ways, followed by several Aurors in blood-red uniforms, pausing to a halt before the now quiet hall. "Madame Bones, what a pleasant but unexpected surprise. Are you and your fine Aurors joining us for our meal?"

Albus might act a bit barmy but he was watching the group at the doors warily, and Harry could read suspicion on the man's expression, as well as some anger and fear on the greasy-haired man's face nearby. That had to be their potions teacher, Severus Snape, because that ugly face was hard to duplicate and his mother had written a good description of the man that still fit him.

"I am afraid not, Mr. Dumbledore, I am here on official business. Mr. Potter, would you and my niece Susan join me for a moment please?" Her formal tone was dead serious. Harry nod and stood quickly, moving over towards her, as did Susan. It was obvious that Amelia planned to act on this here and now, and make this a public move. Albus had a tendency to sweep things under the carpet, and Harry was glad to see she wasn't going to let that happen.

"Now, whatever business you may have here, we should move it to my office-" The old man tried, but Amelia was having none of that. "Absolutely not, I will have this confirmed here and now." She then turned to Harry and presented him with a letter that he read quickly. His words were there, quoted exactly as he had said them, along with Susan's own statement that Harry had sworn this to be true.

"Tell me Mr. Potter, is this true?" She asked him intently, and Harry moved his wand under his chin in a slow and clear gesture, invoking his oath. "I swear on my life and magic that what is written here is true, and I am willing to repeat this under veritaserum if necessary. So mote it be." He raised the wand, casting a brief _lumos _once again, showing he had practiced it.

He might be scolded for having practiced magic outside of school to be already proficient with the little charm, but given how many others tried to do the same it would hardly be even a slap on the wrist, though it might raise some questions about a trace. That'd be a small price to pay, and quickly removed anyway, if it came down to it. Besides, it seemed the trace hardly worked at Hogwarts anyhow.

Nodding her head seriously, Amelia Bones then turned to look towards the head table looking frighteningly angry for a moment, she was furious, she might not be snarling and clenching her hands but the intensity in her eyes made Harry suddenly feel a little chill go down his spine at the thought of what would happen if he ended up fancying Susan and approach her in later years. Madame Bones had a bone-chilling glare certainly.

"Albus Dumbledore, you are here-by served notice that Mr. Potter is not to be alone in your presence on the penalty of a month in Azkaban, until the investigation to your _illegally attempted marriage contract _as well as _illegal attempt at claiming entry to Potter vaults _has been resolved! Do not leave Britain, you are considered suspect of a serious crime and I swear to you now if you are proven guilty you will get a cot in a room at Azkaban!"

On one hand, Harry was grateful for her quick reaction and warning Dumbledore, but at another he thought that she acted a bit too quickly. It tipped off her hand and would let the old man try and put up a fight. What was done was done though, and if asked Harry could honestly say that things came up in conversation that lead to an investigation that uncovered things that certainly looked suspicious.

On the other hand, this would certainly make both Dumbledore and his pet death-eater see him as a possible problem certainly. He wouldn't be surprised if Snape decided to try and do something stupid, given as the warning was issued to Albus Dumbledore alone. Still, by the sounds of it Amelia had already checked at Gringotts since she had added the second charge to the one he had revealed, and keeping his upbringing unsaid she might be planning to drop her knowledge of that upon his feet at a later time. He simply did not know Madame Bones well enough to speculate how she planned to corner the crafty old man.

"Madame Bones, I assure you-" Dumbledore still attempted but was met with a cold glare by Madame Bones. "Don't. You have been caught committing some highly questionable acts, I would suggest you get yourself a good solicitor. This is too big for even you to suppress." Her tone was cold and firm, a type of frost that left Harry wondering whether or not Susan would have a good chance to date any boy in school with her aunt's intimidating presence being firmly ingrained in everyone's mind here.

It was not everyday occurrence to see Dumbledore backing down, but it was satisfying. Turning towards Harry, Madame Bones quickly handed him a simple silver ring, lowering her voice slightly. "Mr. Potter, I would like for you to wear this ring until the trial, and be on your guard. It will record any magic used upon you directly or through potions and such, and it will preserve the magical signature of them. This way if he tries anything we shall know. Once put in place, only you may remove it again. I have already given one to Susan before, but seeing the situation we are in I thought you'd appreciate the precaution as well."

Harry nodded his head slightly, though silently wondered if it would do much good for others to know how badly he had been cursed if he had been cursed to the point of being unable to talk for a while anyway? He had to admit the thought of the headmaster trying to lay down some obliviations or loyalty charms on him certainly should be prevented. "Madame Bones, if I can ask you a favor, would you charm it so that _I _cannot remove it without your presence and approval as well? I don't trust Dumbledore not to try and make me take it off by some trick."

He saw the bit of smirk on Amelia's lips corner as she nodded, and Harry slipped the ring on to then find a small spell cast on the ring with a tap of Amelia's wand, a sticking charm holding it in place and locked in place by her will. It got recorded by the ring but it also secured it tightly onto Harry's finger, easing up some of his concerns.

"Thank you, Madame Bones, for your help in clearing up this matter. I hope that the questions will be answered in due time." He spoke this part out loud, to show his support and appreciation. It wouldn't hurt Madame Bones to have the boy-who-lived publically supporting her on pushing for an investigation, even the Minister who listened to Dumbledore all too often would be hard pressed to go against this if Harry made it public that he wanted the trial. The public supported the boy more than the Minister.

"Just doing my job Mr. Potter, you have brought up some serious charges, and since Dumbledore may end up charged with _attempted line theft_ as well as _fraud_ the matter needs to be fully investigated. I shall let you know the results, but you will likely need to appear before court as a witness as well." Harry nodded his head in acceptance, being met with a smile from Amelia, who then turned to regard Susan. "You did well to bring this to my attention, but be careful of any retaliation attempts that might happen. I'm glad to see you among the Hufflepuffs, they will protect you but I'd suggest refusing any meetings with Headmaster until the trial, go to your head of house if you need to."

"I'd suggest being careful around Snape too, my mother's journals make it clear the man is all too happy to use passive legilimency for surface scans of your thoughts. It's not as bad as active legilimency but do you really want him to know your thoughts and tell the headmaster?" Harry muttered these words but it was obvious Amelia paid interest to them. "Would you be willing to bring that up at the trial as well?" Seeing her expression, Harry nodded seeing her smirk faintly. These words had all been spoken quietly enough to hide them from the crowd, but the crowd's own level of noise worked against them in that.

"I shall hope to see you in a month's time then, Mr. Potter. Until then." Madame Bones then turned to Susan for a few more words, while Harry bowed his head and returned to his table. It was a dismissal and he knew it, and Susan returned to her own table soon enough as well, while Madame Bones seemed to be gritting her teeth together to not outright shout when she turned her attention back at the headmaster.

"Albus Dumbledore, I thought my opinion of you would not sink any lower but now I am hearing you are threatening your students at their first night at Hogwarts with mortal peril just by entering a third floor corridor? We are going to have some words about this. Aurors, you will see to it that whatever _threat_ has been placed within this school is removed **at once.**" The aura of command that their boss was projecting had every Auror she brought with her rushing forth to carry out her order, while the witch watched Albus choking at her words and grasping his throat, having had the misfortune of taking a drink while he thought the excitement was at least winding down somewhat.

"Amelia, please, we can-" He began to start but she shook her head briefly. "I am half tempted to drag you back to the ministry to stand before Wizengamot and call an emergency session as quickly as I can. The time spent in a cell might drive home the point that endangering the children at this school will not be tolerated." She left it unspoken that with her niece here, she would take any threat to the populace personally. She had come because of Harry's accusations, and her niece swearing they were true and serious, but hearing from her directly about this latest foul from the rotten bastard was enough to send her seething with anger.

"I-" The old man attempted again but Madame Bones cast him a harsh glare. "Shut it. You have been informed to keep your distance to Mr. Potter, as well as the charges you will be facing, you best hope that whatever peril you have informed the students of on the third floor doesn't add to your already shaky position and impressive resume of mistakes. The things I really want to tell you aren't suited for first-year students to hear however." Her glare had the old man sighing and sitting down in a disappointed fashion.

"Madame Bones!" An Auror hurrying back shouted and rushed to her side, speaking in a lowered voice before Amelia's eyes narrowed on Dumbledore. "I was thinking of leaving soon, but it seems you'll get your wish, we'll be having a discussion in your office after the feast. In fact, we best leave right now. Minerva, can you take care of the business here in the meanwhile?" Amelia's expression brooked no arguments, and the vice headmistress seemed to take the hint.

After the headmaster reluctantly left the great hall with an Auror watching him closely, followed shortly after by Madame Bones, Harry let out a long breath to finally relax a bit. He had not expected the welcoming feast to become a spectacle quite like this, but from the somewhat smug look on Padma's face he had a feeling she was amused to see Dumbledore go through the wringer with Amelia, and after hearing about the threat in his speech before the food appeared it seemed the old man was willing to risk not only Harry but all of them to some weird ideas of his. Speculation was running rampant, but at least his class-mates seemed content to not question him out loud there at the table.

Glancing over at the staff table, he found that the greasy-haired man was practically seething with anger, and perhaps only keeping his tongue still because he was being watched by a short man sitting next to him with a wand out in the open in one hand, another holding a fork lifting some food for his mouth, one eye kept on the greasy-haired git. The vice headmistress in turn seemed content to have people eating up and getting to bed soon after.

The journey into the corridors was full of excited chatter, but soon enough they came before the door to their dorms, as well as being introduced to the riddles necessary to gain entry to the dorm. Harry felt a brief shadow of a doubt at this, should he have just gone with Hufflepuff to avoid the ridiculous need to try and showcase his intellect by riddles all the while? Perhaps, but he had no intent on switching, for all he knew the Headmaster would use that as an excuse to try and force a resorting into the Gryffindor based on his family history.

Once they were inside the dorms, the short man that had lead the way hopped onto a table before the fireplace in their common room, turning to regard the gathered group seriously. "Welcome to Ravenclaw, everyone. My name is Filius Flitwick, and I am your Head of House here at Hogwarts. That means that in addition to my duties as a teacher, it is my task to make sure you will be behaving well and treated properly. If any of you are having any problems, talk to the prefects, or come to me. The prefects should be your first choice but if it is really important I shall keep my door open. Now, girls rooms are up on the left, and the boys rooms are on the right. Both staircases are enchanted so none of you can go up the wrong stairs."

He smiled in a relaxed fashion, chuckling a moment before shaking his head. "We have been given quite a rare show tonight and I doubt anyone will be sleeping right away, but I would recommend you rest well and gather your strength for tomorrow's lessons. Your classes will begin by 9, so I expect you all to be up and showered by 8.30 and eating at the great hall. There's a stack of simplified maps here on the table for first-years. I shall deliver everyone's schedules tomorrow at the great hall during breakfast, so be there on time." He smiled in a relaxed fashion, before nodding his head and hopping off the table.

Harry was watching more than a couple of people look around curiously, while others seemed too tired to do much more, seeming intent on heading off to sleep. Seeing the teacher walking right at him though had Harry turn to look at the man, waiting patiently to hear what he had to say. As far as he knew, Filius Flitwick had nothing to do with Dumbledore's plans beyond being one of the teachers here at Hogwarts.

"Mr. Potter, I must admit I had not expected you to join my House, but I would like to assure you that your mother would have been thrilled. There was plenty of courage in her, yes, but she was also renown for her intellect and cunning. She was quite a creative young lady, and proving a prodigy with charms. It will be my delight to see how well you will do in class, indeed. I must warn you however, that you will find quite a different sentiment from our potions master, and head of Slytherin."

Seeming to consider something briefly, Filius then carried on in a calm manner, though lowering his voice so only he would hear it. "Mr. Snape is known to be stubborn, foul-mannered and vengeful. You will find this out personally during your first potions lesson. Don't take any of it personally, or worry about any points you will likely lose. It is to be expected, he's been frothing at the mouth about the fact he's going to have to teach you this year. I swear you will not find a man less suited to teach anywhere else in Britain."

Harry had expected that, based on all that he had read about the man, but having a teacher telling him made him feel a bit more willing to trust his Head of House. Sharing that information must have been a little risky, bad-mouthing a fellow teacher was hardly a polite thing to do, but the information did sound both true and serious. Harry Potter was no doubt going to face Severus Snape's anger all too soon.

"Don't worry Professor, I shall not try and provoke him but I imagine that will not stop him." His voice serious and solemn, he watched the professor nod in return. "I imagine so, Mr. Potter. If he issues you detention, let me know, if he takes points, do not worry about it. I will inform everyone else in the first house-meeting about the state of affairs if he proves as predictable as I expect. The Ravenclaws have not sought to win the House Cup in decades, because we are well aware it carries no real benefits to it and the contest is hardly fair with the bias some teachers exhibit."

Hearing that made Harry draw a long breath and sigh out loudly in relaxation, it eased his worries a bit to know he would not be facing a lot of trouble for that. Knowing that Snape would be teaching here had made him wonder if the classmates would look at him poorly for losing points, but given Filius' explanation he had a feeling that would not become a problem, at least not for long. As for the matter of the headmaster, he was going to just wait and see how things turned out.

Finally heading over to the room assigned for first-year boys, Harry saw the two boys there already asleep, and silently changed into his pajamas before slipping under the sheets as well, his trunk resting at the foot of his bed in its original size and secured in place by the charms at its bottom, tied to Harry's own magical signature.

Laying down to rest, Harry found his mind wandering about the coming school year, and what challenges would lay ahead. Having the headmaster over the hot coals from the start of the year would not endear him to the man, and having a potions teacher that hated him made him wonder about his plans to chase that mastery, but he wasn't going to let a biased bastard stop him. The bloody wanker could either try and teach fairly or he could explain to the board why Harry Potter had informed them he would be hiring a private tutor for Potions.

He would have the right to do so, but it would cost him money from his trust vault to do so since it was not a standard Hogwarts expense. Still, if it came down to that Harry Potter would not hesitate, he planned to get a good education and perhaps having the most famous young wizard in the country requesting tutors in place of the teacher that the board was paying for would lead into some rather pointed questions.

Harry might not like his fame but he would certainly wield it like a rapier, a few words out here and there and it would bring both Auror attention and the public opinion through the wizarding newspapers to the matter. If Snape was providing a sub-standard education then the board would have to take action before the greasy git would embarrass Hogwarts and them.

Drifting off to sleep, Harry Potter found his night hardly restful. The wards around Hogwarts were impressive, the sheer amount of magic in them impressive, but at the same time they were restrained, bound away. He wondered about it, finding soon that many of them were secured both at the headmaster's office, where they should be controlled from, and in the ward-stones deep beneath the castle, as well as the sealed chamber at the heart of the castle holding the main ward stone. It seemed obvious none of them were meant to be interfered with directly, only the one to control the wards in the headmaster's office was left in the open, or as open as a stone hidden so that only the current headmaster could access it could be.

He quickly discovered that some of the more impressive wards were kept in check and only raised in case of emergency to not leech upon the ley-lines the castle had been built upon too heavily. He could see the reason for that, the stronger _war wards_ were definitely the kind of things that should only be put to use when the castle was under serious danger.

It was the smaller wards that troubled him in his half-awake state, feeling that many of the suppression wards meant to keep students from hitting one another with hexes or curses in the hallways were tied away. The wards meant to alarm anyone if a student was injured on school grounds were like-wise bound away, and those should have always been active for the healer's convenience. It was the wards meant to protect the young ladies coming to attend the school from any forceful attentions by the less than gentlemanly fellows that definitely raised his ire due to being bound.

He could not undo all of them, but he definitely began to hack away at the last two in his dream-like state. His magical core began to burn away some power, finding the process draining as those bindings were set by someone far more experienced with this particular wards, with direct access to their control stone. Yet Harry wasn't going to let things stand the way they were. He pushed his magic at it, until he felt the bindings snap, at least partly. They might not work at full strength, but the last two wards would now be in place at least partially powered, to help find anyone hurt on the castle ground as well as to hopefully prevent any acts against the ladies.

Finally falling into his dreams, Harry Potter awoke only to find that the old grand-father clock at the dorm was showing it to be 8.10 am already. He chose to hurry to shower and then dress up for the first day, feeling a bit sore from the attempt last night, but hardly drained. Making his way to the great hall for breakfast, he found the little map invaluable, the place really was almost maze-like in some ways.

Settling down to eat he saw a few older students looking his way curiously, and then a raven-haired older girl moved a little closer to address him. "So, Mr. Potter, would you be kind enough to answer a few questions later today about the show we all had last night? I am sure everyone in our house is dying to ask, but a few of us have agreed that bursting out with questions in public would be bad mannered and disorganized, and last night everyone was already feeling a bit tired and overwhelmed. We would appreciate being aware of what all is going on though so if you would not mind joining us in an impromptu meeting back at the dorms after the afternoon classes today?" She smiled in a relaxed manner, but it seemed that she was expecting him to answer a certain way.

"Certainly, I will ask that you don't mind if I can't answer everything though. It is not pleasant thing to think about. Still, after that show I would think I owe a few explanations at least. The last part about the third floor corridor was a surprise for me as well but I think Dumbledore sprung that out on all of us. We were just lucky that Madame Bones came when she did to make sure that threat would not remain."

He saw the amusement on the girl's face as she shook her head at this. "Luck nothing, I imagine that the news reached her about the accusations when she could not catch you outside of Hogwarts anymore and thus had to come here to get the truth, and she would know that Dumbledore would try and weasel in on the meeting and suppress everything if he could. He may be a respected wizard, but he is also known to hold onto several offices while doing a sub-standard job about it, and for all his achievements he has also left a lot of unanswered questions behind. Which is why I am glad to hear you're willing to answer some that your actions have brought to everyone's mind." She smiled, and then got up to return to her friends, leaving Harry to finish his breakfast.

As Professor Flitwick came around distributing their schedules, he cast a look at his and silently groaned. The day would begin with Charms, and he was curious to see about them, but the afternoon would begin with potions class and after Professor Flitwick's warning he had no doubt he would be facing the man's wrath before the end of the day.

**End Chapter**

A/N: Alright, the year is starting and before it is even time for the first lessons Albus Dumbledore is seeing a lot of things going different from what he might have imagined them to be. Harry does have a tendency to plan ahead, but not everything will work out so he'll have to learn to have back-up plans atop back-up plans in time. It is simply that most people would not expect that level of intellect from someone his age, but then again he is hardly an average guy.

I actually wonder why nobody reacted to the opening feast warning about the painful death lurking in the third-floor corridor first year. The students may have thought the old man was simply barmy, but that kind of a warning should spark at least some worry on a few minds. If not more than a letter home about a bizarre inclusion to the opening speech, then at least that much, enough to make people think if the old man is going senile or trying to prank his students. Complete with the 'nitwit, blubber, oddment, tweak' statement, I think the senile angle would be worth a thought.

I am not decided on the Weasley Twins, out of the the Weasleys, I tend to view darkly on Molly's bossing people around habit and Ron's jealousy. I don't think Ginny is really 'bad' but the fangirl angle mixed with potential possession-poisoned mind later on raises some questions, as does the canon ending with Albus Severus Potter which just reeks of emotional manipulation and weak-willed Harry. As for the other Weasleys, I might not like Percy much but I have not seen a clear reason to dislike Bill or Charlie.

Weasley Twins are both pranking people for laughter but also causing trouble, to the point of bullying, but I wonder if they are bullying people who are already bullies to others, or are they just rampantly pranking anyone that they come across. I tend to view them in the lighter, more acceptive side usually but from this Harry's point of view, they'll be under suspicion until he gets to know a bit more about them.

I laid down the self-challenge bit earlier, I am not going to say what I plan on Luna just yet, but that'll be until the second year at least, so it'll not be a huge factor for the first year.

On the topic of Harry using Dark Curses? If someone tries hexing him in the back, he'll throw what he can back at them. If its first year, he'll probably go jelly-legs jinx or such, but later on he's going to be more likely to use reducto than stupefy, unless he's targeting someone with a human shield and planning to take down whichever he hits, dropping a hostage to make the one holding them stumble or hitting the one holding them prisoner to negate the threat.

This Harry will not be pulling his punches, he would not be shoving a wand up a troll's nose, he'd be driving it in through a troll's eye and pushing all the magic he could to over-powering a sparkler charm or something, just to send the little usually-harmless hot sparks right in the back of a troll's eyes socket in order to try and take it out.

I originally planned on having Severus try and use legilimency on Harry right there at the sorting feast after Madame Bones' arrival, but decided against it, since Harry's attention would be elsewhere and because he wouldn't do it where he would risk being caught. I am looking forward to that bit actually, later.

magitech, I like your adaption of the line, with your permission, I might actually use it like that later on in the story.

Until next time, but I might be writing a long overdue chapter to the Reign of Steel: Bloodline before I update this story again.


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: I am merely playing with other people's creations, I don't own the game/book/anime/TV-show I am borrowing from, nor am I making any money with this. I am writing for fun and practice, as fan-fiction to be shared with others if I feel like it.

**Chapter 5: Potions and Pricks**

Harry Potter had made his way to his first Charms lesson with a fair share of curiosity on his mind. Seeing his head of house seated behind the table had him smiling and relaxing. The man might be short in stature but standing tall in terms of both intellect and understanding. He had a feel of power about him that Harry respected, and while Harry knew he would not be a weak wizard either when he learned all he needed to learn, he still recognized that age and wisdom triumphed over youth and enthusiasm quite often.

Seeing the Ravenclaw shared this lesson with Hufflepuffs, Harry smiled a bit noticing his other friends present as well, but figured it was better to talk after the lesson rather than during the lesson. He did not want to give an impression of a poor student to his head of house after all. Once everyone was in the room and seated, the small professor smiled amusedly and spoke up.

"Welcome to your first Charms lesson. I am Professor Flitwick, and I will be teaching you for the next seven years about the wonders and delights of magic. I would say that the spells you learn here will be the ones you will use the most in your everyday life, the transfiguration comes in handy in a great number of things but usually you can get by most situations with the right charm. If you happened to find yourself in danger, again it is likely there is a charm to aid you, but you will learn a lot more in the years to come, and for more direct danger there is the Defense Against the Dark Arts lessons for the hexes, jinxes and curses."

Chuckling a moment and then smiling to the students watching him, Filius began the actual lesson by explaining a few of the more basic spells, and showing how each of them were performed. Inquiring on a few students, he asked how many had tried them at home. After seeing a few raised hands he smiled and chuckled before continuing. "Very good, I like seeing such enthusiasm. Now, I must warn you to not use magic at home during your summer break however. It is forgiven during your first year since students can be expected to be excited, but later on it runs the risk of attracting the attention of the Aurors who look poorly on underage spell casting." He let this bit of news sink in before continuing.

"Here at Hogwarts, we have capable professionals at hand to reverse any accidental mistakes quickly, and can react to things swiftly. There are also no chance of those who aren't allowed to know about magic witnessing such events here. Back at your home, a miscast spell might expose the secret to the neighborhood, and force aurors to work swiftly to remove the information from people's memories to protect us all." He drew a breath while watching many people's eyes widen at that bit of news.

"This is why it is generally advised that students do not perform magic at home during the holidays. There are exceptions, which include self-defense naturally. If something were to happen to you and your magic might be the difference between serious injury or even death, and surviving the encounter, then the use of magic can be justified and the aurors will work quickly to remove the evidence." He looked at each and every last one of them seriously. He didn't want them in trouble, so he taught them the reason behind the restriction during the first lesson. Harry saw the sense in this and nodded his head approvingly, though a little disappointed.

Part of him wanted to show what he had learned to his family when he went back home. They might not particularly like magic, but the handy household charms that even their first year book contained within its extras section for those willing to put a little extra effort into their work was quite fascinating. If his aunt was proud of her garden with Harry's help in maintaining it's splendor, she'd be ecstatic at learning how magic truly could make dishes and fine china shine like it was brand new yet carry the elegance of a piece that was clearly old and historically valuable. The sort of stuff she'd like to feel a little proud to possess.

Still, the Professor was advising against it and Harry was going to have to admit that it was sensible. If some of his spells worked in a funny manner there might not be any help available until the mistake had caused trouble or possibly risked the secret already if it happened when his aunt had her tea with the other neighborhood ladies. He'd just have to accept it was not going to be likely that he could enjoy his magic freely until he came of age.

"Now, I am sure you will all be careful and responsible about things, so I will not bore you with rules and restrictions but instead begin to teach you what you are all here to learn. Magic!" He grinned, earning a chuckle from his crowd, his little gesture and a small sparkling rush of color from his wand accompanying the gesture seeming a nice little ice breaker from the more serious topics. Harry felt a mild 'cheering charm' effect in the spell, but one that even a child could resist if they chose to, it was not a compulsion as much as encouragement. As far as tampering with someone's mind went, he could accept that much.

"We will be starting today with a simple little charm called Lumos. This spell is an old one but a reliable and easy enough spell to practice, its main purpose is to conjure some light to illuminate your path, whether it is through the hallways at the evening near the curfew or if it is to light your path during a midnight walk through the forest harvesting some ingredients at your later years. The spell itself is simple with only one word and the gesture required for it is as follows..."

Harry had already become familiar with this spell, as had some of the others who had read ahead a fair bit, some had practiced a little bit at home and could do it well. They all got a bit of points for it, but not as much as they'd get for later work, and this was all accompanied with the warning to not do magic at summer times.

Nonetheless, Harry had enjoyed it and even the experience of helping some others, receiving a few extra points for helping people out. A few of the Hufflepuffs present had likewise earned themselves points for showing their willingness to help everyone keep up. All in all, it made them advance at a fairly good rate through their material.

Harry had a feeling it would not have been so easy with Slytherin and Gryffindor, there was already rumors going on about previous years having had fights in the hallways and spell casting leading to visits in the infirmary. Harry really didn't want to have to lay down for the Healer to fuss over any more than he needed to, so he was glad to be a Ravenclaw instead.

Nonetheless, all good things must come to an end, and after a hearty meal, the dreaded Potions class lay ahead of them. Harry walked with the others into the classroom in the dungeons with a wary look upon his face, he was reasonably sure this was not going to be going smoothly. The whispers at the meal from the older students seemed to confirm what he had already come to expect: Severus Snape was a total bastard when he wanted to be, and it was likely he'd be particularly harsh on Harry.

Given from what he had learned of his father it was quite likely that there was some _justified _resentment there but Snape seemed to take hating people to extremes. The talk that he had been a former death eater was common gossip, and it was only respect to Dumbledore that made people, belatedly, add that 'former' part to their description of the man. Severus Snape was not a nice man, but Harry was willing to try and tolerate the man if he was a capable teacher, and if he wasn't too consumed by childish vengeance to actually see past his appearance and who Harry really was.

The classroom was already full by the time the classes were supposed to start, but there was no signs of their professor. The door to the back was open but the darkened doorway did not reveal what lay beyond, nor did students dare to try and approach. A minute, two, then five passed, the teacher was definitely late.

Harry was starting to grow a little annoyed. Granted, he hadn't wanted to be in a classroom with Snape this early into things but he had accepted it, and hoped to at least learn something there today. Not having the teacher show the common decency of at least showing up or leaving a note that the class was cancelled or anything was rather rude. He was tempted to dig a book from his bag but from all he had heard before, the teacher would probably throw a fit about that. Unless it was the book for this class he had assigned himself.

Digging out the particular piece of literature from his bag with some distaste, Harry considered the several more engaging works about potions brewing that had far less errors and far more materials within them than what they were being taught with, and couldn't stop but wonder if Snape was intentionally trying to push people away from potions. It was an important topic for many later careers after all.

Perhaps it wouldn't be a tragedy at all if the professor happened to be stupid enough to make the mistake and attempt legilimency at him. In fact, he might just welcome it in order to get rid of the greasy old bastard. Then again, if it did seem he was daring the man to go ahead and then snapped the trap on him within the mindscape he could be facing some pompous official claiming he was guilty of entrapment. No, that would probably not be the wisest. Best to have some deniability.

Finally, seven minutes after the class should have started, a foul-mooded, angry man limped into the room and cast a narrow eyed look at his audience. "Put your wands down, and shut up. I am Professor Snape, and I shall be teaching you all the subtle and exact art of potion brewing. Of the many arts you will learn here at Hogwarts, potions is one of the toughest yet most rewarding ones. Showing a talent in the art will open you many doors in the future, while being an ignorant dunderhead will doom you into a life of mediocrity, and reliance on others to do your brewing for you." Sneering at the audience, Snape smirked a hint noticing that he had their attention at least.

"There are a fascinating number of different potions out there, for various purposes. You can ensnare the mind to recall things you have long forgotten , you can sharpen your wit to truly excel when you need to, you can even brew yourself a little extra luck for that one important day! Yet there are also more humble, everyday situations you must think about. Healers need to know about potions and how they interact to treat people suffering from magical maladies or curses and other harm. Aurors need to know how to recognize certain symptoms quickly, as well as how to brew the simpler pepper up potions and similar things to stay in shape during long hours at times." He looked upon them, seeing he held a captive audience and more than a few had quite a thoughtful look on their faces. Harry had to admit, Snape could make an impression if he wanted to.

"Brewing a potion requires a number of things. In preparation, a potion brewer must have their standard equipment, the necessary ingredients, a copy of the recipe, and the forethought to read ahead and make sure they're ready for surprises." He waved a wand at the blackboard at the back of the table, causing a recipe to appear upon it before turning to point his wand out at Potter.

"You, Potter! Tell me what would happen if someone were to add the porcupine quills to the mix while it is still boiling?" The man clearly meant to catch him off guard, but it demonstrated a point too so Harry was going to not be disrespectful about it. After all, if the man could teach this way, perhaps he was putting an effort to not being an ass, and Harry didn't _want _to make it a fight if they could somehow tolerate one another and Snape somehow managed to actually _teach_ rather than _bully_.

"I think it would cause the potion to grow unstable. Make it burst out of its cauldron and splatter those unfortunate enough to be nearby, cover them in the incomplete formula, in this case, covering them in painful boils, sir." He spoke respectfully but trying not to seem all too confident. With how his father had been, the teacher might take that as being cocky and arrogant. Maybe, just maybe, Snape was acting different towards him because he wasn't a Gryffindor and wasn't the golden boy that Dumbledore had expected. Perhaps there was hope they'd be able to get along.

"You think or you know? Bah, by the time your second-guessing would be done a disaster would have already struck! Someone's cauldron would explode and melt, and those unfortunate enough to be close would indeed have some painful boils! That, is why I want each and every last one of you to pay close attention to not only your own work but your bench-mate's work. If you see them about to make a mistake, warn them, or at the very least shout a warning before jumping for cover. I do not want to see another melted cauldron because someone thought it would be funny to experiment." He snarled and shook his head. "Two points from Ravenclaw for incomplete answer."

Harry frowned quietly but said nothing. Obviously there was some resentment there, but it could have been far worse. Prickly as the man might be, he was at least trying to deliver some safety instruction, but not giving them proper reading material as necessities for this class was almost criminal. Honestly, had the man just grown up using this and never bothered to see what new _starter _books there were these days? Given he was a potions master it was possible he had no interest in new starting books on potions but it was still insulting from a teacher to not try and improve their craft and lessons.

"The instructions are on the board, I expect each of you to pay careful attention to what you are doing and complete this work within the remaining class-time." He snarled before moving back to his chair, still limping and wincing at every step slightly. It was obvious something had hurt his left leg rather viciously, but at the same time it kept the ugly bat from hovering over already scared first years mocking their work and making it worse.

While he was crude and cruel in his methods, it seemed he had managed to spark some interest in the work and even though his warning was rather harsh and graphic, Harry felt it was a good way to drive home the point that it could be dangerous to brew things without being cautious about the process. It could help reduce the mistakes and with the boils potion, the worst that could happen was that they'd have people visit the infirmary for a remedy that would alleviate the pain almost immediately and remove the boils within an hour. All in all it wasn't too dangerous, though painful and humiliating if they did fail.

Nonetheless, Harry got to work alongside Padma whom he had taken a seat next to on arrival. Although his male class-mates were nearby chatting to one another Harry felt more at ease with Padma, he had felt that back at the Alchemic Alley, and then over at the Hogwarts Express, and once more he was happy to be standing near her as they began their work.

Harry went through the recipe from start to finish before he began his brewing, one step at a time. He was not in a hurry, they had ample time to finish this but he wasn't trying to be deliberately slow either. He merely wanted to get the potion right even if it took a minute or two more than it normally would. Adjusting the flame beneath his cauldron more than a few times, he sought the right temperature while adding different ingredients and mixing the right way.

They hadn't faced much explanation why the different ways of mixing things were important, things that should have been part of the first lessons, the importance of preparatory work had been cut down to a few short words and that was all. He was all the more grateful for having read the additional material on that, it helped him keep in mind what came next after all. It became part of an almost mechanical process, simple and easy to follow once you saw the fundamentals about it.

He supposed it was similar to the muggle chemistry, if you had the fascination and began to see beneath the surface, things that some others would struggle a long time with would become embarrassingly clear to one so blessed with the understanding. For him, potions were fascinating, but he hoped their teacher wasn't as surly as Snape was. He hoped the man would at least try and judge them fairly.

Finishing his creation actually among the first, Harry carefully measured the right amount to a vial and corked it before moving with others to lay it down before the teacher who narrowed his eyes, looking at the vial warily. He opened the top and took a whiff of the mixture, looking a little surprised before looking at Harry angrily, but whatever words he might have had in mind to say seemed to die when he locked eyes with Harry's green eyes. Looking him in the eyes seemed to give Snape a halt at this distance, and it wasn't like Harry felt a legilimency probe to explain it either. No, it was something simpler, he realized. He did, after all, _have his mother's eyes._

"I see you have inherited at least a little bit of your mother's talent, Potter. Pity it has been watered down by your father's underachieving lineage. The smell is a bit off, maybe if I... oops." He 'accidentally' let the vial drop and shatter on the floor, looking down at it and then up at Harry and shrugging. "Ah well. Five points from Ravenclaw for faulty potion, and detention later tonight with Filch. You should learn about the service industry if that's the best you can do, _Potter_." Snape sneered at him briefly.

Harry felt angry. His potion had been excellent, it might not have got an 'outstanding' perhaps but he was rather sure he'd have received an 'exceeds expectations' or at least 'acceptable' from anyone else, but Snape had not only refused him a passing grade for today but destroyed his vial to prevent him from taking his potion for another teacher to review. The wand movement from the teacher's wand had already vanished the potion next to him on the floor along with the glass shards, and another jab at his seat and his cauldron there wiped out the remaining bits of his work.

"Why are you still standing there? Shouldn't you be off to strut like you owned the place somewhere else?" Snape sneered at him glaring at him and looking into his eyes. Harry felt his hands clench into fists to stop himself from bending down to Snape's own level, when he felt it. The legilimency probe brushed his mindscape, and Harry's boiling anger receded just slightly. He wielded his emotions, they did not wield him. He could vent those feelings when he wanted to, but he would not become their servant.

The probe brushed the crystal dome that was the outer wall of his mindscape, seeking to find a crack in it to slip through without hammering on it. Seeming surprised there was an obstacle in its path to begin with, the probe nonetheless soon found a hole in the defenses, and confident it was the underage wizard's lack of ability that left a hole behind rather than ill intensions towards any that would try and sneak their way in, Snape's probe moved right in like it owned the place.

What followed was a few short metaphysical steps down a dimly lit hallway before the floor gave way beneath him, the floor near the pit angling down so that even if he had been able to try and backtrack or jump ahead he'd been on slippery surface pointed down into the pit he had stepped upon. The short fall landed him in what seemed like a shallow, underground pond within some dark chamber, but even as Severus' mental image of himself sought to stand up in that bizarre mindscape, a flash of yellow eyes staring at him froze him in place.

In reality, Severus Snape had glared at Potter for a moment before Potter snarled right into his face. "At least I didn't call my best friend a racial slur to her face when she tried to help me against a bunch of bullies, unlike you, professor. I think you would find it interesting my mother eventually thought about forgiving you in her later journals but by then your behavior had proven you always were what she tried to claim wasn't true. You were your father's son. An abusive, hate-filled racist and a bigoted old bastard only knowing how to spread hatred into the world. I hope you'll live with it a long time, because my mother's opinion on you couldn't possibly go any lower, and any chances of redemption went away with that rather spectacular show of carrying a childish grudge. You hated my father? Tough, I didn't even meet him. Don't blame me for what he did, if you hate me, hate me for being me then. Why don't you sit there and think about that for a while,_ Professor?_"

Harry turned to walk away, packing his things in a calm and orderly manner. The mind-probe was snapped free when he turned away from Snape, but facing a mental impression of a basilisk would leave the man into a stunned state for a while. Of course, the realism of it was only an imitation of a bizarre dream he received from the pain when his scar flared and died, and the reading he had done since then. He could see a great big serpent in his mind's eye though, and thus he had set forth one of the first of his mindscape's guardians. In the Chamber of Unwanted Visitors lurked the Basilisk, ready to stun and partially wipe the mind of those who would harm her charge. If Snape did return, or if Harry had sought to keep the eye-contact for longer, he might have received more severe payback for his attempts, but Harry had chosen restraint.

Snape's stunned state could be explained away somewhat by the trauma of the revelations he delivered into Snape's face there, and the mindscape trap would wipe out evidence of its presence from Snape's mind, leaving himself too slightly unsure of what had happened, though those words would linger even if the rest of the class would be somewhat blurred in his mind from what he had faced. Harry was willing to admit to himself that he wouldn't have felt too guilty if Snape hadn't been able to recover though. Even if the Basilisk had petrified Snape's mind within his own otherwise fine body, and wiped away memories of perhaps even years back with its corruptive gaze. Yet doing that so openly would draw more attention than the almost anticipated clash between Severus Snape and the Spawn of James Potter.

Having the reputation of having put Snape stunned in his place with an ironic slam. Snape thought Harry was his father's son? Snape was a spitting image of his own father in how he acted, and Harry made no attempts to hide his contempt towards the man anymore after the way his work had been treated. He could get tutors, and if necessary, he could change schools, though he had hoped that Hogwarts would suffice.

Then again, if it came to that, he was fairly sure people would rather accept he sought tutors as the old traditions allowed, rather than having him leaving Hogwarts to some foreign school. Dumbledore would probably try and defend Snape, but given how his behavior was already under suspicion the fact he was protecting someone that had attacked the same boy would not help him in trying to find excuses and acceptable reasons for his actions when it would come to trial. With Madame Bones behind them, and Harry willing to undergo Veritaserum or give pensieve memories, and authorize even Goblin documents, there was little that Dumbledore could do to quiet it down, unless he could get rid of the papers at Gringotts.

Given that he'd offered his proxy to goblins it was fairly sure that there was nothing Dumbledore could offer them legally or illegally that would convince them it would be a good idea to try and double-cross Harry about it. Still, he had a lot on his mind, and thus didn't pay attention to the fact that as he was leaving the classroom with a stunned Snape still practically drooling on himself in the teacher's seat, the others looked at each others a bit warily before bottling their creation and setting it down on Snape's desk before hurrying out as well. Nobody wanted to be there when the hateful man snapped and realized the tongue-lashing he'd received after all.

He idly brushed his finger and the ring, and recalled its protection with an amused smirk on his lips again. Using legilimency on someone was illegal, and even the weak probe that the teacher might try and pull off with his gaze could be considered a severe violation of privacy, and given how the whole encounter had turned out and the evidence of it on the ring, Snape might just not be teaching at this school much longer. Of course, getting rid of him would have to be done with solid evidence. If Snape got off the chains and walked he'd be back with vengeance and Harry wanted the rotten bastard either neutered and actually teaching or permanently removed from Hogwarts.

Nonetheless, as Harry was making his way down the hallway he suddenly found himself facing an angry looking red-head lad. Thinking back at the Hogwarts Express, he recalled the name. Ronald Weasley.

"Hey Potter, what do you think your parents would think of you? They were brave Gryffindors and you decide to go all bookworm Ravenclaw despite their sacrifice to save you? They must be mortified. You should have been in Gryffindor with me and Dean and everyone, everyone knew that was what was supposed to happen! I'm sure if you apologize to Dumbledore for the trouble he'll have you resorted in a jiffy!" The red haired menace stated loudly, while Harry felt his eye corner twitch.

"I have no desire to be a Gryffindor what so ever. My parents gave their lives to protect me, not to thrust me in the middle of the whole Gryffindor-Slytherin house-war that puts more people in the hospital than the dark lords." While it might sound like an exaggeration, it actually wasn't. Most people that ran across the dark lord died, while most people involved in that petty struggle had multiple visits to the infirmary or a hospital while their tempers flared.

"But you're supposed to be a Gryffindor, not a dorky Ravenclaw!" The red-haired git shouted this loudly, while Harry's eyes narrowed slightly. He had just dealt with Snape and wanted to get back to his house dorms, not deal with an idiot like this. Truthfully, Harry had some choice words in mind to say but he really preferred not to. The guy might be a nuisance, but his brothers could be trouble. Harry wanted to make sure where they stood before he'd pull off anything against Ron at school.

"Just shows I'm smart enough to not want to get into a house-war that would cut into my study time. Now if you'll excuse me." He turned to walk off when he more _felt _than _knew _a curse had just been fired at his back. Ron's wand was finishing the sloppy pattern for the curse that would have given him... a rash... if it had hit, but the point of the matter was, Ron had tried to hex him in the back.

The spell passed him close by but Harry's own wand was already pointed at Ron. He wasn't sure what spell could work well for this, but came up with a quick decision. He didn't know duelling spells yet, but that wouldn't keep him down. "Lumos!" He shouted the spell while overcharging it, eyes pinched shut.

Even with his eyes shut he could tell the idiot was stumbling around blind now, just connecting with the stream of magic all around. Harry moved up quickly and snatched the boy's wand from his hand directly, and then hurriedly left the scene behind. Making his way back to the Ravenclaw dorms, he could see a fair share of people already present, looking curious at him at his arrival to the common room.

"Alright, I promised a few answers but before that I'd like a few of my own. Is there a prefect here?" Seeing one of the older girls wave to him Harry moved over to hand over the Weasley wand handle first. "A Gryffindor attacked me in the hallway, trying to cast an unknown curse at my back. I dodged it quickly and overpowered a lumos to blind him, then snatching his wand along as evidence since there's no classes left today. Figured I'd rather stop the fight than really fight back at least yet."

He wasn't sure if the ring would register the curse thrown at him but the prefect should be able to use a priori incantatem and Filius Flitwick surely would. The fact Harry had used a spell that would not do any permanent harm and hadn't even cast at a fellow student was a point in his favor, though he was a bit wary about the invitation to 'apologize to Dumbledore' and be 'resorted'. He didn't want to be in Gryffindor, but it seemed a lot of people thought he belonged there. They'd be proven both right, and absolutely wrong, over the course of the coming weeks. He might be brave and stand up for himself but he wasn't going to be charging ahead regardless of danger and without a plan beyond simply charging. No, Harry Potter would wage this war on his own terms, more Slytherin in his methods and Ravenclaw in his thoroughness.

"Alright, I'll make sure our Head of House gets it, good thing you didn't stay and fight, though I imagine McGonagall will be pissed you took the wand of one of her lion cubs. Still, she's pretty strict on her own lions too so when it gets out that you were stopping a fight rather than starting one she ought to cool down. It might not be quick though." The prefect remarked this to Harry seriously, earning a faint nod and a smile from him. "I'm just grateful to get out of there, listening to the boy ranting about dorky Ravenclaws made it obvious what he thinks about the benefits of studying, but even wizarding world needs janitors huh?" He grinned a bit earning a short bit of laughter from a few folks who seemed to agree about his assessment of the Weasley lad.

"Alright, but you owe us a bit of a story and explanation right now, Mr. Potter." The raven-haired woman who had spoken to him earlier approached from the sixth-year girls dorm, a smirk on her face though a curious look evident in her eyes as she kept watching him. Harry saw Padma already at the common room at work over their homework for Charms with another first-year girl, waving a bit at his direction but looking a bit curious as well. Not much aid coming from that direction then.

"Well I did promise but I will choose for myself what questions I will answer afterwards and what is best left be for now." He looked at the people watching to make sure there was no loud protesting at least, a bit of quiet reluctance at him wanting to keep some things private could be understood. Especially as he could understand the curiosity they might have for his 'so-called celebrity status'. Annoying thing, he thought to himself, being known for the night when his parents gave their lives and managed some form of miracle of magic to save him and people though he was responsible. Not like Voldemort choked on his foul toddler-gas or anything. Worst he could have done at that age would have been to banish his soiled nappy at the bad man by accidental magic.

**End Chapter**

A/N: The encounter with Snape ended up toned down a lot from the first draft, and then rethought and reconsidered over several times. I also had Harry decide to go with more non-lethal method the first time around. He's cold, but even he would have a bit of wariness to outright kill someone at eleven years of age, but that reluctance only goes so far. If Snape does keep pushing ahead (and remember he doesn't have a memory of what in Merlin's name happened to him) then he will find his mindscape suffering far worse than a momentary petrification.

Also, Harry does not have innate memories of decades worth of spells and all the power Voldemort built up over time with rituals and he doesn't have an innate repository of knowledge from 'absorbing the horcrux', but he got some little impressions like the mental image of the Chamber of Secrets, kind of like a child watching a movie might recall something similar in setting at some of their dreams. They don't see it as real but they have an image in their head they can play with.

Harry's powers will grow and evolve, and they defy many other's understanding of magic but Harry will have to master them mostly on his own for now. He's learning magic and has a good head on his shoulders, but he's still just learning the stuff that Hogwarts teaches, and though he does read ahead he's not going to be throwing impressive and complex curses that are beyond newt-level while he's still learning enough control for first-year spells. Doesn't mean he's without advantages, just that while he's entitled to a "Super-Harry" status in later years, he's got to build the way there through learning stuff along the way still.

I got some amusing rants from Dumbledore in my mind as well but given I chose to try and focus on Harry in this tale rather than multiple points of view, that has to wait for now. Likewise, the encounter with Twins looms in the horizon, and how they stand in the whole mess will be seen.

Many of my stories are fairly short, but I figure this is one of those ones that can run for a fair while so I will update when I can but I alternate somewhat between stories for now.


End file.
